Southern Saturday - Biscuits and Gravy

My Saturday theme is Southern Saturdays.  One of my 40 before 40 goals is to cook my way through Cookin' Crunk by Bianca Philips.  I've already made a few recipes, and I thought this would be a good way to get some more stuff out of the way.

I figured what better way to start (blogging, at least) than that good ol' Southern breakfast (or, if you're me, brinner) staple, biscuits and gravy.  Seriously, biscuits and gravy is one of my death row last meal foods, so how could I not make these?

I used the Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy with Sage recipes.  Like Bianca says, every Southern cook has a biscuit recipe in their arsenal, and hers is really similar to the one I usually make.  The only difference is that I usually use white flour.  The only change I made to her recipe was to make cat-head biscuits instead of rolling and cutting.  For the gravy, I used some leftover Tempeh Sausage Crumbles from VwaV that I made the other day in place of the Gimme Lean called for.  I also cooked the gravy in the skillet used for the sausage because that's the way gravy should be made.

Despite using all whole wheat flour, the biscuits were soft and fluffy.  I honestly expected to like them less than I did, but they were great.  The gravy was delicious and was perfect with the biscuits, though I think I prefer white gravy.  I would definitely make this again.  I think I'll try the Chocolate Gravy next time!

Latke breakfast pie

I was standing at the bus stop after work trying to figure out what to make for dinner.  I was visualising what I had in the cupboards and fridge, and I remembered that I had a box of Manischewitz latke mix that I bought when I was in NY last year.  Then it hit me - breakfast pie with a latke crust.

I started making it as soon as I got home, because my projects tend to take a while.  I blended some Vegg to mix with the latke mix to bind it and spread the mix into the bottom and up the sides of my pie plate.  I baked this for a bit while I made the filling.

For the filling, I blended some of the haricot beans that I'd cooked in the slow cooker with more Vegg, then poured the mixture into a bowl and stirred in some sriracha, garlic granules, onion granules, salt, chopped frozen spinach, and diced roasted red pepper.  I poured the filling in and threw it in the oven while I made some Tempeh Sausage Crumbles from VwaV.

Once the pie had baked for a bit, I threw the crumbles on top.  Here's where it started to go wrong.  The crumbles were more of a mush than crumbly, and they didn't go on very well.  But it wasn't a complete disaster.  I put it back in the oven thinking it would take another 20 minutes or so.

About an hour and a half after I put the pie in, it still isn't finished.  I got a slice out before I realised this.  I put it back in the oven minus that slice (which wasn't exactly slice-shaped at this point), and I ate that bit.

It was actually pretty good.  The flavours worked well together, and nothing overwhelmed.  Even if it doesn't entirely firm up, it's still edible, and I have lunch for a few days!  It's not perfect or pretty (hence the lack of pictures), but it's tasty!

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 8 - Mike Makes Monday Meals - Tofu Scramble

First of all, apologies for missing out yesterday.  I had a really bad allergy attack and couldn't be bothered to do anything once I got back from my 5-hour round trip to IKEA.  (But I did get some awesome stuff, like the potato rostis (finally!), and discovered that their gingerbread cookie dough seems to be vegan.)  I still didn't feel magnificent today, but it's Monday, which means it's Mike's night to cook, so it didn't matter.

I've mentioned (multiple times) my love of breakfast, and that brinner is my favourite meal.  I probably make tofu scramble once a week on average.  I almost always use the same recipe, mostly because I've tried so many and just stick to what works.  The Vegan Diner scramble from last week was delicious, but since I was teaching Mike how to make scramble, I just went with the simple recipe I usually make.  It takes the best parts of the Vegan with a Vengeance recipe with a few changes to make it simpler - garlic and onion granules instead of actual garlic and onions, chopped frozen spinach, and a simple spice mix.  It works for me - it fits in my diet and it makes great burritos.

Mike said this was straightforward and easy to make, though it did stir up controversy.  He didn't like squishing the tofu by hand, so he said he'll cube it next time.  I informed him that in this house, we crumble our tofu.  To paraphrase a wise person, cubed tofu isn't scramble, it's stir-fry.

I also made a pumpkin bundt cake, but it's still cooling, so I'll have to talk about that in another post.  I'm taking it in to work tomorrow - for the first time in about a year, we've replaced someone on our team, so we're having a team lunch.  As much as I'm excited that we get a free lunch, I just realised that a) I still have to bring in at least part of my own meal (because the place we go to doesn't have anything vegan) and 2) this means I don't get to read during my lunch hour.  Boo-urns.

Vegan MoFo - Sick again

I'm going for a cop-out survey post tonight.  I'm either having another allergy attack or have caught a cold for real this time, so dinner was a Freenut butter and jam sammich, hot chocolate and some allergy pills (and Mike just ate ice cream).

1. Favorite non-dairy milk? Alpro Soya sweetened, in the blue carton

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook? Sausage balls from the I-40 Kitchen, Mo's Texas-sized kolaches, and Isa's Apple Pie Pancakes

3. Topping of choice for popcorn? nooch and seasoned salt

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?  A couple of months ago, I was trying to be good and make lunch for Mike the night before so I didn't have to get up early to do it.  I put the pasta on, then promptly forgot about it.  About 45 minutes later, Mike said "what's that smell" and I remembered his pasta.  It ruined the pan and made the flat smell like smoke for days.  But I got a really good new pan out of it, and now we know our smoke detectors don't work.

5. Favorite pickled item? I don't really like anything pickled!

6. How do you organize your recipes? I used to have them organised by category on my computer, but then my hard drive crashed. Now I just have a few things on my hard drive and everything else in my bookmarks.  And I pretty much never look at them.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? Unfortunately, we can't compost and don't have a garbage disposal, so we have to trash our food waste.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)? Tofu, nooch, chard

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Big Southern-style breakfasts at my grandparents' house – scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy (or jam or sorghum), bacon, cereal, juice – I've made a vegan version many times

10. Favorite vegan ice cream? One I made myself – PB Speculoos cookies and cream: a base made with Freenut butter and homemade Speculoos spread (using the PB variation of the ice cream recipe in Veganomicon) with crushed Oreos added in at the end

12. Spice/herb you would die without? cumin

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? Since I moved to another country, I can really only count the books I've gotten since I came to Edinburgh, so that would have to be Vegan with a Vengeance.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? Seedless raspberry

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend? Probably The Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever from VwaV, made with less sugar and added chocolate chips

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? Brinner! It's not just because it's eating breakfast any time you want – it's eating breakfast without having to get up early to make it and without having to do anything afterwards, like get on with your day.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? Nothing – it's an under-counter

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Mr Rak's mini-latkes (closest thing to tots I can get here), frozen veg, Linda McCartney mini-sausages

20. What’s on your grocery list? Nothing right now – I just went shopping the other day.  Oh, I actually need some soy milk powder because I ran out when I made the last batch of hot chocolate mix, and we're almost out of hot chocolate mix.

21. Favorite grocery store? Real Foods for specialty/vegan stuff, Sainsbury's for everyday stuff, Lupe Pinto's for Latin ingredients or American convenience foods (like Hershey's syrup)

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet. Poutine – it seems like the best idea ever – fries, gravy, and cheese. I just haven't had the chance, though it shouldn't be that difficult.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3? Mo Betta Vegan, Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk, and Cupcake Kitteh

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate? Go Max Go Twilight or The Chocolate Tree sea salt and caramel dark chocolate bar or Marmite truffle

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? It's really only extravagant when you convert the currency, but I spent £4 (about $6.40) on a small box of Bisquick which probably would've cost about $2.50 in the US. I really don't often splash out on food. I find it difficult to justify spending £2.60 on a 2-pack of Redwood quarterpound burgers (though they're really good).

Vegan MoFo - Ruby Rose's Macarena Muffin Pie

This summer, I went PPKamping in Dorset with MessyVeggie, holylopez, baps, hana, and jojo.  We met up with Ruby Rose at Monkey World (!), and naturally the conversation turned to odd foods.  It turns out that Ruby Rose (aka Amy) had a dream about making a pie with a shortcrust base, apple filling, and cinnamon muffin topping.  She then sold it at a bake sale while doing the Macarena.  I think that was how the dream went.

Well, as soon as she said this, I thought, I must make that pie.  Then someone else mentioned using Lotus biscuits (out of which Speculoos spread is made) to make a cookie crust (completely unrelated to the previously mentioned pie).  My thoughts then turned to, I must make that pie with Speculoos crust!

I finally got around to making it today.  One thing I have to say - I forgot just how much I dislike making apple pie.  The coring, the peeling, the slicing - it takes SO. LONG.  But I soldiered on for the good of humanity (or so I assumed). 

The crust recipe is a variation on this cookie crust.  The apple filling is a variation on the filling for the Gingerbread Apple Pie in Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz*.  And the muffin top is my own cinnamon muffin recipe (minus the chocolate chips).  I now give you...

Macarena Muffin Pie

Crust:

• about 20 Lotus/Biscoff biscuits
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp margarine, melted

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

Crush the biscuits into small pieces (or whiz them in a food processor).  Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined.  Press into a pie plate and bake for 5-7 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool as you make the other elements of the pie, but leave the oven on.

Apple Filling:

• 1 pound apples (I used Pink Lady), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tbsp arrowroot

Combine everything but the arrowroot in a large bowl.  Sprinkle the arrowroot over the mixture and stir until the starch is dissolved.

Assemble:

Have ready one recipe of cinnamon muffins without chocolate chips.  Pour the apple mixture into the prepared crust, then top with the muffin batter**.  Smooth the batter over the apples so that they're completely covered.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffin top is brown and slightly cracked and a toothpick inserted in the middle (but not too far down!) comes out clean.

The Verdict - OMG it's so good!  I have to say, though, that the crust as written isn't perfect.  It doesn't actually stay together, so it's more like one of those cakes with a pudding bottom.  Still, it's freaking delicious.  And I'm glad I left the 1/4 c of maple syrup out of the apple filling because it would've been way too much sugar, as it's a bit of sugar overload as is.  In fact, I forgot to take pictures of the first piece and had to have a second, and I think I might go into a diabetic coma soon.  I might try it again with the shortcrust (or shortbread crust, which was another variation I thought of trying before the mention of Speculoos crust).  I might also just put cinnamon in the apple filling as it felt a little overwhelmed with spices.



And in case you didn't notice, I got a new camera.  Naturally, the first photos I post from it are brown and messy.  Awesome.


*Many thanks to Isa for letting me print my variation.
**You won't use all the batter, so throw some chocolate chips into the remainder and bake in muffin cups after you've baked this.

Bakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

Yes, I used that title yesterday just so I could use this title today.

I'm exhausted. After a full day at work, I came home to bake. As I mentioned yesterday, I have 2 bake sales tomorrow, so I started yesterday and finished today. I still have to frost a cake, but I'm done baking. I think I finally turned off the oven some time just before 10 PM (and turned it on around 5.45).

Tonight I made two batches of GF pumpkin muffins from VwaV, one with and one without chocolate chips, chocolate raspberry cake (which was a double batch of Basic Chocolate Cupcakes from VCTOTW which will eventually be covered with Raspberry Buttercream from the same), and a double batch of the French Toast Muffins from 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes (which ended up giving me nearly 3 dozen).

The pumpkin muffins came out great as per usual, and I haven't had any problems with the cake yet. But the French Toast muffins were a massive fail. I don't know if it was my fault or the recipe's fault, but this was just terrible. I mean, they tasted OK, but not nearly as maple-y as I had hoped. The big problem was with the texture - they were underdone and gummy. Like I said, it could've been (and probably was) my fault, and I might try these again. But it was super disappointing when I spent so much damn time making them.

I haven't taken any pictures of the stuff I made tonight because I was just trying to clear it away and get other stuff done. But I'll take my camera with me tomorrow and get a few snaps. And they might not suck because it'll be in the daytime!

One other thing - I made the Garlic Green Beans from Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations. They were fantastic, and best of all, they were in my mouth within 10 minutes of starting. I had the idea to make them, pulled out the recipe, prepped and cooked everything in less time than it took to bake a batch of fail muffins. And they were lovely. Next time you need a quick side and have green beans on hand, make these!

Bakin'

First of all, I can't believe I forgot to blog yesterday. I didn't even think about it until I was in bed and the computer was off. I wasn't about to get back up and switch my computer back on just to talk about having oatmeal for dinner (and not even give you a picture of it), so I just went to sleep. That means I've broken my awesome MoFo streak of blogging every day. Oh well.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier this month, I have things to bake for. They both happen to be this Saturday. I don't know how I managed to do this, but I've baked for two bake sales in one day before (during the Worldwide Vegan Bakesale for Haiti, I held 3 sales in one week, two on the same day in different places) so it shouldn't be a problem.

I have a bake sale for a work event (coffee morning) and one at the roller derby bout. Since there are people at work who are baking but not going to the coffee morning and therefore bringing stuff in to the office tomorrow, I worked out to bring stuff in as well so I could get a head start. Tonight, I managed to make the Coffee Chip Muffins from Vegan Brunch:



and these low-fat Snickerdoodle Blondies, combining my favourite bar with my favourite cookie:



I love making the Coffee Chip Muffins because they're just so super easy. It probably takes less time to mix them than for the oven to pre-heat. I find the coffee flavour a bit lacking, so I always use instant espresso instead of regular instant coffee. I have some coffee extract, so maybe next time I make them I'll throw that in as well.

The Snickerdoodle Blondies were amazing. The only thing I might change is to make them like regular blondies (with chocolate chips - it's really the only way) in addition to the cinnamon-sugar topping. In fact, I might make another batch tomorrow and do just that.

The plan for tomorrow night (since that's all the time I have left) is to make some gluten-free The Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever from VwaV (double batch so I can cover both events), French Toast Muffins from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes (since I was sent maple extract in my PPKare package last month), and possibly the Green Tea Cupcakes from VCTOTW. Oh yeah, I also have to make the chocolate raspberry cake - I almost forgot about that. I'll upset at least two people if I don't make it since it was specifically requested.

So I'll be busy tomorrow night. I probably should've made at least one more thing tonight, but I'm dangerously low on cinnamon and don't have all the ingredients for the other stuff I'm making. But I'll get it done.

Revisiting a classic - Tofu Scramble

Huge surprise - Mike didn't make bread today! He says he'll do it tomorrow when he gets home from work, but that's unlikely. We'll see.

Since I didn't have a guest blogger, I decided to revisit one of my favourite topics. I've written at length about tofu scramble. I believe it to be an essential dish in any vegan's repertoire (unless you're soy-free, though there are some interesting soy-free tofus being made by enterprising individuals). In fact, you should probably know how to make tofu scramble even if you just live with a vegan for whom you might end up cooking. I'm actually a little surprised I haven't forced Mike to learn how to make it without my help (though it is one of the 2 dishes he's ever cooked for me).

It seems like it's also a really personal dish - there are probably as many ways to make tofu scramble as there are vegans who eat it. My favourite way to scramble is similar to the recipe in the PPK recipe archive and Vegan with a Vengeance. I usually leave out the thyme (being jabbed in the gum by a dried sprig of thyme once too often put me off it in scramble) and double the nooch, and I use whatever veg I like (most often onion, red pepper if I have it, and broccoli).



But that's the great thing about tofu scramble - you can put pretty much anything in it, and it's great.

If you look back at some of my older post (from last year's MoFo and earlier, mostly), you'll see that I've blogged about scramble a lot. I love a lot of the various scramble recipes from Vegan Brunch, but the VwaV recipe is my go-to, never-fail, don't even need the recipe scramble.

So, how do you scramble? I'd love to hear from soy-free people about making scramble without (soy-based) tofu. I'm also curious to hear your take on 'tofu scramble' v 'scrambled tofu' - which do you prefer? (I think my preference is obvious.)

Vegan MoFo - Failure to prep

Happy World Vegan Day! And happy first day of MoFo!

Sunday was meant to be spent prepping for the week to come so I could be sure to have time to do everything I wanted to do and still have time to blog about it. Unfortunately, it ended up being an extremely lazy day - I was up by 11, but I managed to not even get breakfast made until about 4 and did very little else.

One thing I did manage was to cook a giant pot of beans. And 'giant pot' is no lie. I measured out 4ish cups for VwaV Chickpea Broccoli Casserole and 2 cups for VwaV Falafel, and I still had about 3 cups left. Since we're not keen on homemade hummus (not smooth enough - I'm not making it again until I get a VitaMix), I need to think of something to do with 3 damn cups of chickpeas. If anyone has any non-hummus ideas, let me know.

I also made one of the cakes for my first "Mix v. Scratch" challenge - Battle Swirl Cake. I'll share the results of that later in the week.

I had to do my shopping tonight, but I (hopefully) got all of the fresh ingredients I need for the rest of the week. Later in the week, I hope to be able to make VwaV falafel (which I've never made before!), VwaV BBQ Pomegranate Tofu, and V'con French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme.

I hope all you other MoFo's have a great month!

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!

Bonus: Perfectly perfect cinnamon chocolate chip muffins

A few weeks (months?) ago, I wrote this post about old-school cinnamon chocolate chip muffins like mom used to ... let me buy a packet mix for and turn into a cake-sized muffin that I hated to share. So, I've been making these like crazy (seriously, a couple times a week, hence my most recent post). When I made them last week, they came out absolutely perfect. It was the best muffin I've ever made in my life, including the much-raved about Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever from VwaV. The changes are slight but crucial. If you want the absolute most perfect cinnamon chocolate chip muffins in the world*, follow the recipe below exactly.

*YMMV

The Best Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins Ever

3/4 c plain flour
3/4 c wholemeal pastry flour
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c non-dairy milk
1/4 c + 2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp applesauce
1/3 c plain soy yogurt
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir dry ingredients together. Make a well in the centre and add liquid ingredients. Stir to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill muffin liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick through the centre comes out clean.


That said, when I next make these, I'll probably have to reverse the proportion of oil and applesauce to make them as low fat as possible. But at least I've shared my discovery with others.

I'm cheating.

I totally forgot to do a blog post, so I'm changing the date and time in post options to make it look like I posted last night. Heh. This'll be a short one, and I'll do a decent post later. I'll also upload pictures to this one, since I don't feel like loading the one picture I took last night and then loading pics I might take tonight.

I made the mocha oatmeal yesterday. It was just alright. I don't really know what I would change about it - maybe I just don't like mocha oatmeal. I think I'll stick with other flavours. I still need to branch out a bit. I was gonna try pumpkin pie, but now that I've opened the pumpkin, I don't know if I want to make anything other than muffins. I made a batch last night, and they're already all gone. And there are just two of us to eat them! I'll be honest, I ate the vast majority. Mike had some last night and took a couple for his lunch today, but I ate the rest. That's how good they are!

Dinner was some delicious Potato and Asparagus Soup from VwaV.


I love this soup. In fact, I love almost every soup in that book (I say 'almost' because I've not tried all of them, but I love the ones I've tried).

About a month ago, we were in Aberdeen, and we got the most delicious hummus from Tesco (of all places) - sun-dried tomato and basil. It was a limited edition, and they're no longer offering it. So, I currently have chickpeas cooking and will try to make my own wonderful, slightly cheesy-tasting hummus later.

Also, all the stores are stocked with pumpkin, so I might buy one and see if it's cheaper to make my own pumpkin puree than buy the stuff in the jar. I could trek out to Lupe Pinto's in Tollcross to see if they have any of the imported Libby stuff, which will be a lot cheaper than the organic stuff in the jar. But if this year is anything like last year, they'll probably already be out.

Cookbook challenge, week 9, day 2 - La Dolce Vegan

I had oatmeal twice today. Breakfast was a quick and simple golden syrup oatmeal since I had to be at the Scottish Studies library at 11, and lunch was savoury oatmeal, similar to last night but with the addition of a few drops of liquid smoke. Since I don't have anywhere in particular to be tomorrow (just grocery shopping), I think I'm gonna try mocha.

Today was supposed to be Movie Monday, but only one of my friends could make it, so we ended up playing Settlers of Catan. We still had breakfast, which was two recipes for this week's cookbook challenge. The original challenge was for How It All Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard. But we realised that not everyone had HIAV, but almost every challenge participant had at least one Sarah Kramer book, so we've decided that this week's challenge is just Sarah Kramer recipes (any recipe from HIAV, Garden of Vegan, or La Dolce Vegan). I have LDV, so that's what I'm using.

I feel like I'm now compelled to try every variety of tofu scramble I find, just to see if I like anything other than the spice combo in VwaV. So tonight's dinner was Sleepy Sunday Morning Scramble with Vegan "Sausage" Hash

(Sorry, it's not a very appealing picture. We were in the sitting room (bad lighting) and had already started eating when I remembered to take it.)

I used VB Italian feast sausages for the hash, and I only had a red onion, so that went into both recipes. Everyone liked the food. I still prefer Isa's scramble seasonings, but I liked the addition of Dijon mustard in this one. If I'd been at all prepared, the whole meal could've been ready in about 15 minutes, I imagine. My only complaint is that the hash recipe was very non-specific. It just says 'cook until done', without any real indication of what 'done' looks like. This doesn't seem to be the norm, though.

We've tentatively rescheduled movie night for Sunday. Mike won't be home, so we're gonna watch a movie he wouldn't want to see - Gigi! It's one of the classic MGM musicals from the 50s. So, we're gonna have French food and watch a musical about a French courtesan (essentially)! I'm not sure what to make, apart from Pain au Chocolat from VB, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Cookbook challenge - Yellow Rose Recipes

As promised, I'm gonna catch up with the Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook challenge that happened a couple of weeks ago.

First off, a bonus Vegan Brunch recipe - Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes


These were so amazingly good. Just a bit spicy, not too dry, and the remoulade really brought the flavours together. Mike wasn't as pleased, so I ate the rest the next day!

Another bonus - Feesh Fingers from the blog The Great Vegan Conspiracy


Really tasty! I baked instead of fried, and I probably baked them a little too long because they were a bit too crunchy. I also didn't have any dill, I think, and I didn't bother with the nori, which was a mistake. Next time, I'll add the nori, maybe marinate the tofu for a bit longer, and try to remember the herbs. We ate them with make-shift tartar sauce, which was basically Isa's remoulade minus the chipotle sauce.

My first YRR recipe for the cookbook challenge was Tofu Scramble


Mike and I could both eat tofu scramble every day, but I have my preferences. I have to say, I wasn't terribly impressed with this. It was slightly healthier than my usual scramble (because of the additional veg), but it wasn't all that flavourful. I did, however, like the method. My normal scramble is the Vegan with a Vengeance recipe, usually with about half the tofu but not reducing anything else (and no shrooms because Mike is a hater). But that one takes forever, it seems, so I've since been combining the method and some of the ingredients for the YRR recipe with the flavourings from the VwaV recipe. It's worked so far.

Next up was the Sloppy Joannas


OMG these were amazingly delicious. Mike and I both had seconds. The recipe makes a lot, but we didn't have any leftovers. I really want to make these again soon. The only downside is that, every time I see the name of the recipe, it makes me think of the Michael Jackson song 'Dirty Diana'.

My next YRR recipe was the Chicken-Style Seitan/Mustard Crusted Seitan


Another winner. The seitan itself takes ages to make, mostly because you have to form it into individual cutlets, so it's not nearly as easy as the V'con recipe. However, the results are totally worth it. Mike has since requested these for his lunch sammiches. They're awesome to fry up with some breading, as with the Mustard Crusted Seitan pictured. I loved it, but Mike thought they were too mustardy. I made them again the other night, omitting the mustard for his and using slightly different breading, and we both thought they were wonderful. I would love to do the Beer-Battered Seitan, but I don't usually have beer around, and I'm not too keen on the amount of fat in them. Maybe for a get-together.

I also made the Spiced Applesauce, which by itself isn't great. I think I prefer my applesauce without the 5-spice. It just kinda has a wang to it. However, I later made the Spice Cake


and it was soooo good! The 5-spice isn't noticeable at all. The cream cheese frosting made this cake almost literally irresistible. I made a double recipe in a 9x13" pan (well, it might have been 11x14") on Tuesday, took it to an Ethnology Society meeting on Wednesday afternoon, had some friends over before going out Wednesday evening, and ate the rest of it when I got home that night. We just couldn't stop eating it. I wish I had some right now.

Like I said, I had friends over, so I made the Tamale Pie for dinner that night.


I used the taco salad 'meat' and nacho sauce (minus jalapenos because they're kinda expensive here) topped with the sour cream recipe in the book. Also, I forgot to buy tomato sauce, so I just bunged in two things of chopped tomatoes in their juices. Everyone loved it. LOVED. Except Mike, who doesn't like cooked 'cheese' or sweetcorn in things. But everyone else had seconds. I thought it was delicious and actually didn't mind that Mike didn't like it that much because that meant all the leftovers were for me! Anyway, I want to make this again, but if there are only 2 of us eating it and one person doesn't like it, it seems like a waste of time and effort. Maybe for another dinner party or something.
Breaking it down - Taco salad TVP was a little weird and grainy. If I make it again, I'll either use larger granules or just buy a bag of frozen mince. The sour cream was really good, but a little limey. I might do slightly less lime and slightly more acv next time. Nacho sauce was amazingly delicious. I want some nachos. I kinda wish I'd made the whole recipe (though Mike would've liked it even less, but I suspect it was the polenta part rather than the nacho sauce that he didn't like).

Oh yeah, Mike's birthday happened in there, so here are pictures of his cake, made from the Mint Chocolate Cupcakes recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World


Yeah, I busted out the heart-shaped cake pan again.



What I did here was halve the cake and do a layer of mint frosting, then a layer of ganache, then put the other half of the cake on top, another layer of mint frosting, and another layer of ganache. I've done this before, and it never disappoints. It didn't last long. This is actually one of the easier and less time-consuming 'fancy' cupcakes in the book, which is even easier made as a cake. I love this cake.

There were actually a couple other things in there, but this post is already really long, so I might save those for another time. I'll probably do my cupboard clean-out tomorrow, with before and after shots, and then figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do with all the stuff I have in there. It would be nice to know what's there.

Cookbook challenge, week 3, days 4-7 - Vegan Brunch

I haven't been making a lot from VB, which is why I haven't blogged in a while. I'm doing a catch-up today, though I can't really remember what I made on which nights, to be honest. I mean, there was at least one night when we had cereal for dinner, and last night, I'm ashamed to say, we actually had donuts and coffee cake for dinner. I had every intention of making decent food, but Mike ended up not being particularly hungry after eating 3 donuts and a piece of coffee cake. Anyway, I digress. I'll go in order.

At some point this week, I made Spinach and Millet Polenta with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto:


This one is actually a hold-over from last week's challenge, Vegan with a Vengeance. I had intended on making it last Sunday with spinach I got from the Farmers' Market, but I didn't get around to it because it is a bit time consuming. The spinach was on the brink, so I decided to make the polenta before I ended up having wasted the money (although I think we got a deal on the spinach because it was the end of the day and they were trying to get rid of everything).

I baked the polenta to avoid the extra fat from pan-frying, and I used ground almonds for the pesto since I had a big bag of ground almonds and a small bag of slivered almonds (and no whole almonds). I served it with roasted asparagus.

I can't believe I waited so long to try this recipe. I think I was scared off by the pesto, since I can't have regular pesto (allergic to pine nuts), or maybe the sun-dried tomatoes, or maybe even the amount of time it takes to make. Either way, I'm so glad I finally made this. It is freaking amazing. The pesto was a perfect complement to the polenta. It was so delicious that I actually turned the oven back on to make seconds. I will definitely make this again (though probably in stages and well in advance so I can just throw everything together, because it took ages).

I made East Coast Coffee Cake (jam swirl variation) on Friday:

Oh yeah, I busted out the heart-shaped pan!



I've actually made this before (raspberry jam swirl and chocolate chip layer variations), but I needed to use up some applesauce that's taking up room in the fridge and wanted to make something from VB for which I had all the ingredients on hand. This time I made it with seedless bramble jam I got from the Farmers' Market. It was just as delicious as last time. OK, I lie, nothing is as delicious as chocolate and raspberry. But it was delicious. I love this recipe.

Finally, tonight's dinner was Sesame Tofu Scramble with Greens and Yams:


This was delicious and super easy (if you prepare ahead, which, for once, I did). It has just a few ingredients and takes less than 20 minutes to cook. We both scarfed this stuff. The flavours were really subtle - a bit of saltiness from the soy sauce, just a bit of sweetness from the sweet potato, the slightest hint of heat from the peppers. It felt a bit lighter than regular tofu scramble. It was really nice.

Mike is going out tomorrow, so I'm gonna try to make the Matzoh Brie and Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes at some point.

Cookbook challenge, week 3, days 2 & 3 - Vegan Brunch

I've managed to make quite a few recipes in the past couple of days - two for dinner last night, one for lunch today, some muffins, and tonight's dinner. So, here they are in order of when they were made.

Last night's dinner was Basic Scrambled Tempeh with Roasted Squash:


I used the mystery squash from this post instead of the butternut in the recipe, but I think the results were the same. It was exactly what the recipe said it would be - a bit crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. I usually roast squash with sweet things (i.e., maple syrup), so this was different, but in a good way. It was a nice accompaniment to the tempeh, which we thought was just alright. It tasted a bit too much like health food. We both liked the dish, though Mike left most of his tempeh and tried to eat my kale. I don't know if I'll make it again, since tempeh is kinda pricey and I like for it all to get eaten.

I had a really long day today (up at 6 AM and out the door before Mike even had to start getting ready for work, which is very unusual), so I decided that I deserved a proper cooked lunch, and I made the Puttanesca Scramble.


I've been wanting to try this for a while, but Mike isn't a fan of olives, so I had to wait for a time that I could make it just for myself. I'm so glad I did. The flavours were really nice, even though I had to sub dried for fresh herbs (I couldn't find fresh) and boxed chopped tomatoes for fresh (because I can't be arsed). It came together really quickly, too. My only complaint is that it didn't seem very filling. I made a half recipe, and I ate the whole shebangabang in about an hour and still didn't feel full. This is the type of dish that's best served with something else.

I also made the Pumpkin Bran Muffins:


I have to say, although these were nice, they just aren't as good as The Best Pumpkin Muffins from VwaV. The bran made them feel very health food-y, which isn't necessarily bad. They're good, but I won't be replacing the VwaV muffins any time soon.

And since I'd opened the jar of pumpkin puree and didn't have room to store it, I made Pumpkin French Toast for dinner:


This was tasty, but the pumpkin flavour wasn't pronounced enough to make me want to use a muffin recipe's worth of the stuff to make this again. The funny thing is that Mike thought it was too pumpkin-y, and that it wasn't spiced enough. However, I should also mention that he thinks it needed pepper. Anyway, I also think the bread should probably have been sliced a little more thinly. I got as close to one inch as possible, but I thought it was a bit too thick. It also left me with some slightly tough crusts. I don't really make french toast that often, but I think I might be a bit boring when it comes to it. I should've made the Fronch Toast in VwaV last week. Oh well.

I only plan on making one more recipe for this cookbook challenge. Or, at least, I had, but I've just realised that today is only Tuesday, and I haven't really planned for meals for the rest of the week. I might have to re-evaluate my plans, preferably to include more veg.

Cookbook challenge, week 2, days 3-5 - Vegan with a Vengeance

I've been crap about this week's challenge. Not only have I made far fewer recipes, I've not been posting when I did make something. So, this'll be my catch-up post.

Tuesday I made the Cauliflower-Leek Kugel with Almond-Herb Crust:


I have to say, it was just OK. I mean, we ate most of it (though Mike didn't really finish either night we ate it), and it wasn't bad. I just wasn't all that keen. It might have been the texture or the flavour, too much or too little of one herb or another - I honestly can't put it into words. Also, it was a bit time-consuming to make and required a few ingredients that I never use (what am I gonna do with the rest of that box of matzohs?). It was alright, but I probably won't make it again.

I started making the Raspberry Blackout Cake with Ganache-y Frosting that night. I made the cake layers, but I didn't realise the frosting had to sit for an hour, so I waited until Wednesday to make that part. Then, when I started the frosting (as in, the soy cream was in the pan and the heat was on), I realised that I didn't have enough chocolate. I ended up having to go to 3 stores to finally find some vegan chocolate. Pain in the ass. I finally finished yesterday afternoon:


This was another labour intensive recipe, though part of that was my fault (next time I need to pay attention to the recipe and actually calculate how many grams are in an ounce so I get the right amount of chocolate). And even though I typically prefer a buttercream to a ganache, this cake was delicious. The cake layers were nice and moist, and the ganache set nicely. I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry (in case you couldn't tell from previous posts), and I feel this could've used a bit more raspberry flavour, but I think the only way that could've happened is with raspberry extract or syrup in the cake or ganache. I might make this again, though likely for an event rather than just to have cake, though I might use the cake recipe to use in something similar but buttercream-frosted.

Tonight's dinner was Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce (minus the mushrooms because Mike is a hater) with roasted cauliflower (I bought too much for the kugel and wanted to use it up before it went off):


The whole meal was wonderful. I was worried, based on other people's experiences, that the croquettes would be too crumbly or something. But they held together perfectly, and I didn't find them overly crunchy. The sauce was delicious, though I really wish I could've made it with mushrooms. I served it as suggested, with a heap of quinoa covered in sauce. And, of course, the cauliflower was delicious, but roasted cauliflower always is. I have an assload of sauce left, but I'm sure I won't have any problem finding something to do with it once I've finished off the rest of the croquettes and quinoa. I'm sure I'll make this again, though probably when we have people over, since it's makes too much for just the two of us, and I don't know how the croquettes will hold up after refrigeration.

Cookbook challenge, week 2, day 1 - Vegan with a Vengeance

It's week 2 of the cookbook challenge. I think I overextended myself last week with 10 recipes, so I'm cutting back this week. At least, I had intended to, but I've already made 2 recipes - Coconut Rice and Jerk Seitan.



I have to say, first off, that I loved both of these, but my husband wasn't a huge fan. He doesn't like lemon, but I didn't think lime, which is in both of these recipes, would be a problem. Turns out I was wrong. He liked it enough, but not enough to want me to make either of them again (unless, I suppose, I omitted the lime).

Anyway, I used the seitan recipe from Veganomicon, which is actually the seitan recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance except simplified. I used less cayenne than the recipe calls for because neither of us likes all that much spice, and I ran out of thyme. I left the shredded coconut out of the rice because I'm not a big fan (like the flavour but not the texture). I also used brown rice instead of jasmine because that's what I had on hand. Although I did 1/2 the recipe, I accidentally used the full recipe amount of water, which turned out to be a good thing because the rice needed to cook longer and needed more liquid.

The major off-putting thing about this recipe is the time involved. If you make your seitan from scratch (which I do because we don't have it available in stores in the UK), you're looking at over 3 hours from starting to eating. Now, most of that is sitting and waiting, either while the seitan cooks or while it marinates. But I would recommend this recipe as more of a 'I have a bunch of seitan - what should I do with it?' kind of thing rather than deciding at 6 PM that you want to make the jerk seitan when you have no seitan on hand. It's a really, really good recipe (unless the other person you're feeding is a citrus-hating freak), but you have to either prepare way in advance or have seitan ready to go in order to not be eating dinner at 10.15 PM.

Cookbook challenge is almost here!

So, the PPK cookbook challenge starts tomorrow (well, technically Monday, but I'm starting tomorrow). The point of the cookbook challenge is to get us to use our vast array of cookbooks in a structured way, so that we can share experiences and favourites and try new things that we might not have. We're meant to make at least three recipes from the book chosen for that week and post in the forum about how we got on. The first book is Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I'm super excited. I already have my recipes picked out, including at least one dessert (so I can make use of my oat flour), and I'll be posting as I go along. Hopefully this will be good practice for VeganMoFo.

I went back to the Edinburgh Farmers' Market today for the first time in at least a month. I'd been missing Swiss chard and was hoping to find some good stuff to use for the challenge. To be honest, I stopped going because basically one side of the market is almost entirely comprised of meat producers, with some of them offering cooked meat products at the stalls, and frankly, it makes me a little nauseous. It would make my life a lot easier if the meat producers were all on one side and the non-meat people (even the cheese toasty people) were on the other. Oh well. I'm hoping that today's score is indicative of increasing variety, which would at least temporarily alleviate my other problem - they had the same stuff every week. But this week, I got my standard greens (chard and spinach, though I could've gotten kale as well), but I also got two lovely squashes. One was a 2Kg spaghetti squash, the first time I've seen one since I moved to the UK. The other was this lovely squash that they couldn't identify, but PPKers identified as a kabocha:


I've been told that it's best when it's left to its own devices for a few weeks, otherwise it pretty much tastes like courgette. So, I'll be saving that beauty for a later challenge. Anyway, the chard went into a delicious Swiss Chard Frittata (recipe in Vegan Brunch), and I'll figure out what to do with the spinach later.

I also managed to find a use for the carob chips my sister brought from the US (she was supposed to bring chocolate chips), and here are the results:


The Best Pumpkin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. Not the best picture, I must admit, but they were tasty as hell. I almost always make modifications to the recipe when I make them, but they are by far the best muffins I have ever eaten in my life, regardless of how I change them up. This batch had about 1/2 c of carob chips, used only 3/4 c of sugar, subbed half the oil with applesauce, and subbed the flour as follows - 3/4 c plain flour, 1/2 c wholemeal pastry flour, 1/2 c spelt flour (also, the recipe in the book, which is what I use, doesn't have soy yogurt). The sweetness of the carob balances out the 'healthy' taste of the flours, even with 1/2 cup less sugar than the original recipe. These also do really well with chocolate chips, and I would imagine they would taste alright with some kind of berry, if you go in for that sort of thing.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to post my first cookbook challenge experiences tomorrow. Yay! Also, I just realised that it kinda looks like I'm whoring for Isa since I've posted all but one of her (and Terry's) books. I'm really not - I just love the books, and they happen to be the ones I use most. Part of why I'm taking part in the cookbook challenge.