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 - Another lazy dinner

I had another convenience food dinner tonight.  Cooking was involved, but not a single thing actually eaten was hand-made by me.  I didn't even bother taking a picture because it was so simple and full of packaged goodness - a Redwood's quarterpound burger with a bit of smoked cheddar Sheese (made in Scotland!) between two pieces of store-bought bread (Alinson's batch baked wholemeal, in case you're interested) with mustard, Infinity Foods' smoked garlic mayo, and ketchup, with a side of microwave-steamed veggies (frozen 4-pack from Sainsbury's).  Simple, but quick and delicious, though I feel a bit guilty writing about it.  But it is Saturday, and I technically don't have to do an entry today, so whevs.

OK, so the guilt got to me and I did something.  It's not much, but it'll serve me well in coming months - homemade hot chocolate mix.

I used the Go Dairy Free recipe, which has always been decent.  Another quick and easy thing that will come in handy when Mike wants hot chocolate but I can't be bothered standing over the stove to make it from scratch.  I went with the plain recipe because I like to be able to customise my hot chocolate each time and don't want to be tied to a particular flavour.

I did end up putting a bit of cinnamon in this, and topped it off with vanilla soy milk to cool it faster and make up for using less-than-vanilla-y vanilla sugar.

BTW, do us a favour and check out PPKer Jen's blog, That Pain in the Ass Vegan, a couple of times a day.  She's trying to get a million hits during MoFo so she can donate the money generated to her local food bank and animal shelters.  Unfortunately I can't help (other than trying to get the word out) because only US hits count.  Boo-urns.  So click it, share it with your friends, and then just keep refreshing the page all day.  That would be swell.

Vegan MoFo - Restaurant Review: Heavenly

I took today off from work and took myself to Glasgow for a day of eating and museum-ing.  Usually when we go to Glasgow, we don't stay long or do much because Mike's a bit of a homebody and doesn't like to stay out long.  Also, when we go to museums, he has a tendency to get bored quickly (because he reads faster and finishes sooner), so I end up getting rushed and not seeing everything I want to see.  So this time, I was by myself and could go at my own pace, and it was great.

I started off with lunch at Heavenly.  They're a fairly new all-vegan restaurant - they've only been open since May.  Heavenly became my favourite restaurant after my first meal there, and it remains firmly in first place after today.  It doesn't hurt that they don't have much competition, but they easily quash the few other contenders with a varied menu that doesn't seem to be based around vegan stereotypes (elaborate salads and every other dish full of nuts).

They just debuted their winter menu today, so the lunch service was a bit off due to having just received the ingredients.  There were a few things on the menu that I liked the look of but weren't available, but even with that I had some tough decisions to make.  I started out with a new item, garlic mushroom crostini (picture below).  It was gorgeous - so much so that I got it again at dinner.

Luckily for me, the one thing on the old menu that I'd not been able to try made it to the new menu, and they had that ready to go, so that was my main - bangers and mash with red onion gravy.

As you can see, the gravy was nice and thick.  The sausages were a bit overcooked, but it didn't detract from the taste (neither did the fact that they're clearly Redwood's or similar).  The whole dish was tasty and comforting.

The only dessert I fancied wasn't ready yet, so I moved on to my next destination.

I went to the Kelvingrove for the AC/DC exhibition.  It was really good.  It not only contained your standard photos, ticket stubs, backstage passes, clothing, and other memorabilia, but interactive bits like a guitar with tabs for some of the more famous songs, and a couple of screens showing concert footage and interviews.  And it was only £2!  I'm glad I went - I still have "For Those About to Rock" in my head.

After that, I did a bit of shopping.  I went to Roots and Fruits, which seems to have reorganised and shifted half of the shop to the new (2nd) location on Argyle Street.  However, I did manage to get some Tofutti Sour Supreme, so hopefully I'll get it in gear and make the Deli Reubenettes from American Vegan Kitchen.  After that I went to Lupe Pinto's and bought Bisquick.  I will make the I-40 Blog's sausage balls.

Then it was time for me to meet PPKer Debbie for dinner, again at Heavenly!  I was going to get the polenta cakes, but then I realised they had pesto, which was made with pine nuts (allergen), so I had the crostini again.

Sorry for the green-ness - we sat at The Smiths booth, which has a green-shaded light overhead.  This was even better than earlier - loaded with creamy, garlicky mushrooms and slightly crispy - I could eat it daily.

Debbie had the soup and sandwich combo.  The soup was leek and tattie, and the sandwich was the New York Doll.  I don't recall what she thought of the soup, but she said the sandwich was good but messy, and the seitan was a little less firm than she would've liked but still tasty.

My main was the roast vegetable pie with mash and gravy (which they inexplicably call sauce here, but that there is white gravy, I don't care what they say).  The pie was a little odd - really large cuts of veg, including leek, piled on top of each other and sandwiched between two rounds of puff pastry.  It was tasty, but kinda weird.  But the mash and gravy were good, though I prefer brown gravy on my mash.  But dessert made up for it.

I got the gingerbread with cinnamon custard - the chocolate sauce was a pleasant surprise.  This is hands-down one of the best - if not THE best - desserts I've ever had at a vegan restaurant.  I always bemoan the fact that no one seems to be able to make a simple damn cake with no crap in it - no nuts, no dates, no raisins, just cake and icing.  Though not exactly "just cake and icing", this was brilliant.  The gingerbread was very cakey, and the custard was a perfect complement, and the chocolate sauce tied it all together nicely.  If I hadn't been so full, I might have gotten a second serving.  It was delightful, and I'll be sad if they don't have it next time I'm there.

So, in case you hadn't worked it out, I would absolutely recommend Heavenly.  We've been a couple of times when it wasn't very full, so we worry a bit that they'll stay open.  But with the new menu moving away from, as Debbie put it, everything looking like the one vegan option in most non-vegan places, to truly unique and creative dishes, I hope it's soon regularly packed and in no danger of closing, because every other restaurant now pales in comparison.

Vegan MoFo - Alcoholic Ginger Beer (Bread)

Someone from Cake Liberation Front posted in the giveaway thread about a giveaway they're doing, so I checked out the blog.  They had a recipe for Alcoholic Ginger Beer Bread - a cake-like quick bread with ginger, ginger beer, and chocolate - so I decided that I needed to give it a try.

The first step here was finding Hollows Alcoholic Ginger Beer as Crabbie's is, apparently, not vegan.  I'd never seen it before, so I contacted customer service, who sent me a list of retailers the next day.  The contact person also said they'd send me some free samples if I found it in a shop that wasn't on their list.  Well, after I bought it from Earthy Foods & Goods (on my first visit; I also bought my favourite rooibos chai and my favourite dark chocolate - The Chocolate Tree's sea salt and caramel dark chocolate), I happened to spy a bottle in Real Foods (which is kinda funny because I didn't even think of looking there, even though it's exactly the kind of thing they'd sell and I'm there a couple times a week).  And, true to her word, the contact person asked me for my address to send me some samples!  I eagerly await them - it'll brighten my work day, since that's where they'll be delivered.

Anyway, I digress.  So, I made the bread, and I had some ginger beer left over.  I don't think I've ever had straight alcoholic ginger beer, but I've had the non-alcoholic stuff.  I like it enough, but only sparingly, as I find it has a bit of an ohgoditburns! quality to it.  This, however, did not taste like burning.  It has a mild, pleasant flavour, definitely ginger but not so strong that it hurts, but it also doesn't taste like alcohol.  I would definitely order this in a pub - it's more refreshing than cider and less vile than beer.  Unfortunately, I only had about 1/4 of a bottle left, and Mike drank most of it, so I couldn't judge the level of buzz one might get from it.

On to the bread:

I like it a lot, though I wish it had come out a little more cake-like.  As you can see, it's loaded with chocolate chips (which I used in place of chunks because I'm lazy and had about a kilo of chips vs no bars/chunks), and the chocolate flavour almost overwhelms the ginger.  Despite having 2 tsp of ginger and 12 oz of ginger beer, the ginger flavour is actually pretty subtle.  I'm hoping that will change with a bit of a sit.

BTW, the company that makes the alcoholic ginger beer is owned by Fentimans, who bring us Curiosity Cola and Victorian Lemonade.  They make good stuff.

I'm super excited about tomorrow - I'm going to Glasgow for eating, meeting up for cake and beverages, and going to museums.  Two things - new menu at Heavenly, and AC/DC exhibition at the Kelvingrove!  More about that when I get home tomorrow evening!

Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: Appetite for Reduction (pt 2)

I did a couple more recipes from Appetite for Reduction for the Cookbook Challenge.  Today was Broiled Blackened Tofu and Mac & Trees.

I think you can tell by the picture which of these recipes I preferred.  I loved the Mac & Trees.  I'm pretty sure I've made the pea version before, but never the original broccoli version.  It was really good - it tasted like comforting, creamy, cheesy mac and cheese, but the broccoli and the fact that it's low-cal made it feel OK to eat (which I did, repeatedly, one spoonful at a time every time I went to the kitchen).   Even Mike liked it, and he hates cooked cheese-type foods.  He liked it enough to want to eat it again!  So this is a definite winner.

Also, I just love that cheese sauce.  It takes all of 15 minutes to make all told, and it's really really good.  And no added fat!  That's what you want in a cheese sauce.  And the best thing about vegan cheese sauces - easy clean-up.  You can let a vegan cheese sauce cool and still be able to rinse out most of it.  +1 for veganism.

The tofu, however, was not my favourite.  The flavour was OK, but I didn't dig the texture.  I think, once again, it was my nemesis thyme.  I love/hate that bastard substance.  I almost didn't put it in, but then I decided to go with the original recipe.  I kinda wish I hadn't.  I kept getting jabbed in the gums by it, and at one point, I had a hard time getting a piece out of my gum.  It was uncomfortable, which is the exact opposite of how I want to feel when I eat.  Also, I don't really have a broiler, so I had to just bake the tofu on high heat close to the element.  It didn't blacken, though I think that was the least of its problems.

So, yeah, I'll make the hell out of the Mac & Trees, but if I try the tofu again, I'll leave out the thyme.

In other, non-food/veganism related news, we were approved for a mortgage!  We're hoping to put in an offer on a flat soon.  We're super excited.  For me anyway, it's mostly because I get a cat after the majority of the work has been done on it.  So keep your fingers crossed for us that everything goes smoothly and I'll be cuddling a kitteh soon!

Vegan MoFo - PPKlassics: Pandacookie's Butterscotch rum cake

I think this might be my saddest post ever, because it's a post about failure.

I'll be honest, I'm not used to baking failures that are my own fault.  I mean, I can handle something like the Irn Bru cupcakes that didn't come out the first time because it was an experiment and I couldn't have known what would happen.  But when I fail at something that has been tested and approved by others, I feel kinda crappy.

There's a thread in the Kitchen about PPKlassics - recipes that made the rounds on the old boards or early days on the new boards.  One of the recipes mentioned was Pandacookie's Butterscotch Rum Bundt Cake - a yellow cake made with rum and butterscotch chips.  I know, it sounds amazing.  I didn't actually have anything to write about today because Mike came home tired and didn't want anything elaborate for dinner, so we just had sammiches.  Then I remembered I had been gazing longingly at that recipe, checked that I had the ingredients, and went for it.

Well, in the interim, I got upset about something (I won't talk about it here), and I didn't tend to the cake as I should have.  I tested it, but I must have tested the wrong bit, because, after cooling, I discovered that it was still gooey on the inside.  I ate a bit, hoping it would be at least acceptable for home consumption, but it was really bad.  I actually think I may have gotten buzzed off the rum that didn't bake out.

So, yeah, my cake was a failure, so my previous upset was compounded by failcake (that I can't even make in to cakeballs).  Not only did I waste the time, I also wasted almost all of the rest of my stash of imported butterscotch chips and most of a bottle of Morgan's Spiced Rum.  But since it's my own failure and not that of the recipe, I'll post it here.

Pandacookie’s Rum Butterscotch Bundt Cake

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c rum
1/2 c canola oil (I used 1/4 c oil and 1/4 c applesauce)
1/2 c soy milk
equivalent of 2 eggs (I used ener-g)
2 tsp vanilla
1 c vegan sour cream (I used soy yogurt)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 c butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Sift flour, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl.  In another bowl combine rum, oil, milk, egg replacer, and vanilla.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.  Fold in the butterscotch chips, then fold in the sour cream.  Add the vinegar and stir briefly (the vinegar will, react making pale swirls in the batter).  Quickly pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 35-45 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before turning out of the pan.

If you try this, let me know if it works out for you.  Maybe it was the subs, or maybe it was taking it out too early, or maybe it was the pan being too small.  All I know is, I am sad that I have no cake, because that one is going in the bin.

Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: Appetite for Reduction (pt 1)

So, we're doing the Cookbook Challenge again.  It seems to always coincide with MoFo, which actually works out great for me.  It not only gets me to use my cookbooks, but it also gives me something to blog about!

This week is actually supposed to be Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry, but I don't have that book, so I'm going back to week 1, Isa and Terry Week.  I still haven't cooked much out of Appetite for Reduction (in my defense, I've been testing for Alicia for several months now), so I decided to focus on that.  I have the rest of the books after that, and there's a 2nd Isa/Terry week, and I'm really looking forward to using a few books I haven't had for long.

It's kinda late and I'm pretty tired, so I'm just posting the recipe I tried last night, which was the Smoky Split Pea Soup.

Split pea soup is another one of those things that I didn't try for a very long time because my mom always made it seem like something vile.  Pea soup was the stuff of nightmares, and this was before I saw The Exorcist (or did my Linda Blair impression at that Halloween party a few years ago).  I've since learned to love split pea soup.  How could you not?  It's creamy and savoury and comforting.  It's like a bowl of liquid hugs for your insides.

Isa's smoky, low-cal version is great.  It mimics that bit of ham you'd get in an omni split pea soup without the fat or cruelty.  The only thing I didn't like about it was the thyme.  I wish there was a way to have the flavour of thyme without the texture.  Those little bastards always stick in my teeth.

To be honest, I tested another low-cal split pea soup recipe for Alicia that I like better, so I'll probably stick with that.  But until the rest of you mortals have access to that one, I would recommend this one.