The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Dinner Night

Vine and Dine was canceled for this month. I had already found a couple of interesting vegan wines, so we decided to do our own Vine and Dine night. I am a multi-tasker, so along with vining, I pulled out another of my cook books that hasn't seen the light of my kitchen in what seems like years.

A long time ago, I checked out Donna Klein's The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen from my local library. I don't remember what I made out of it at that time. But I do know that I spilled stuff on the book and ended up having to buy the library a new copy. So my copy had the library labels including the Dewey decimal code on it.

I have to say that this book collects a lot of dust. This is not a reflection of the quality of the recipes, because what I have made has been pretty good. I have been reflecting a lot on why some books get more use than others. What makes me pick up a cook book? What makes me want to make something out of it? What inspires me? These musings have become a more serious matter to me these days. I am getting close to having the number of recipes I feel good about for my own book. Now I need to figure out what will make readers want to really use my book when it is published.

Historically I have not been a reader of cook book introductions. I usually dig right in to the table of contents, recipes and of course the gorgeous pictures. Pictures really make a cook book jump out at me. I think this may be the reason this book gets neglected. For all of its rustic and solid recipes, it is just plain boring to look at. There is not one picture inside the cover. What is inside the cover is some very simple and healthy Mediterranean fare.

I made two dishes for our dinner the other night:

Gratin of Macaroni, Tomatoes, Basil and Olives (pg. 111) and Cauliflower with Capers in Herbed Vinaigrette (pg. 144). Fred is a big lover of pasta/tomato dishes of many types. That's why I chose the first dish. My good friend and fellow gardener, Robert, gave me this big beautiful head of cauliflower. See the pretty hint of purple in the florets?

For the gratin I used quinoa pasta, not so much for the gluten free aspect, but more because it is what was in my pantry. The bread crumbs took care of the gluten. Actually if you use GF breadcrumbs this could be a very nice addition to the GF kitchen. This dish is a case of the whole is better than the parts. It has very simple ingredients that come together in a very homey satisfying dish. The saltiness of the kalamata olives works nicely with the creaminess of the elbow macaroni and the beans. Tomato anything makes us happy usually, and they were a great addition to this dish. The basil pull it all together with it's fresh summery flavor. The breadcrumb gratin never really seemed to get that firm golden brown I love in a gratin. But perhaps I didn't let it cook long enough. The recipe made a lot. We will probably get 3 meals out of it for the two of us. 

We served it with the Cauliflower with Capers in Herbed Vinaigrette. I puffy heart this dish. It is loaded with fresh basil, parsley, chives and capers. The white wine vinegar pulls it all together. I let it sit for about an hour. Oh man was the flavor incredible. It was quite delish the next day as a cold dish as well. If you want a refreshing way to use up some cauliflower, I highly recommend this recipe.

My adorable el Fredo getting his Vine on.

We chose the Duckpond Chardonnay for our Vine tonight. Duckpond is one of Fred's favorite vegan wine makers. This particular selection has a lot of tropical fruit notes; pineapple, mango etc. It would be a nice selection for a caribbean or latin dish that has a bit of heat to it. Sadly, it was a mismatch for this meal. The mellow and more delicate spices in the food made the wine taste almost sweet and not in a good way. I think a Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris or a nice dry Sauvinon Blanc would have been a better match in this case. 

Horizons Cookbook - Trio of Tastiness

As I continue working through some of my cookbook selection, I thought I would break out a relatively new addition to my collection. Horizons New Vegan Cuisine came highly recommended by my foodie soul sisters; Tami from Vegan Appetite and Liz from Cooking the Vegan Books. They were right on with this one.

This book is lovely. The authors, Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby, take you on a trip to many exotic places. They have traveled extensively and share their journeys of food with their readers. It kind of makes me feel like I don't get around much. There are beautiful color pictures throughout the book. The layout is interesting. The ingredients are in a green side bar with the instructions on the inside "seam" of the book. It is pleasantly easy to read, which is a plus in the kitchen.

This book is full of interesting looking recipes. I had a hard time selecting what to make. I chose three dishes that didn't look too time intensive for a weeknight. First up was the Spinach Salad with Cilantro Dressing (pg. 64). This one came together in a snap. The dressing was made in the blender with simple ingredients that blended so well together. The creaminess of the mayo-mustard combo was delightfully brightened up by lime and cilantro. I served ours with the optional sliced jalapenos. Major yum, without major work.

I have had nagging voice in my head telling me I need black bean soup. I just happened to run across the Brazilian Black Bean Soup (pg. 35) and the voices sang. This recipe looked relatively simple, so I thought, "Why not?" The Latin Spice blend (pg. 27) is a flavor powerhouse. They give you the option to add whatever chile powder you like. I chose a combo of chipotle and ancho. The recipe for the spice mix didn't specify what type of paprika to use, so I opted for spicy smoked paprika. You can pick your pepper as well. I had jalapenos in the fridge, so they were the pepper of choice tonight. I thought it would be delightful in a Latin spice combo. It was a good call. The soup had a beautiful silky texture. It had a bit of heat to it, but not too much. I might try it with habanero another time to fire things up for my heat lovin' honey.

Horizon's Dinner

The real surprising treat for me was the Caramelized Cauliflower in Spanish Green Garlic Sauce (pg. 130). While I am not a hater, cauliflower is not my favorite vegetable. It seems I forget about this cloud-looking veggie. Again, this dish was very easy to throw together. The most time intensive part was chopping the parsley and mincing the garlic. I used my trusty Microplane grater and made quick work of the garlic. I added the optional chopped tomatoes. I am so glad that I did. Not only did they add a nice dimension of flavor, they added some beautiful color. Fred and I were split on this dish. I adored it, while he was...meh. I loves me some garlic. The garlic on this could easily be overpowering for many meeker folks. The garlic is not cooked, so it adds a dimension of heat that may turn some people off. I, on the other hand, figured it would do my heart good and keep the vampires away. YUM! Tell me this is not a gorgeous side dish?

Caramelized Cauliflower in Spanish Green Garlic Sauce

The Horizons Cookbook is likely to get some action in our house. I love dishes with lots of spices and bold flavors. The dishes I've tried so far easily fit this bill. If you like lots of flavor in your recipes and lots of beautiful pictures in your cookbooks, make sure to get a copy of this book. It's good reading and good eating!

Robin Robertson's 1000 Vegan Recipes - Curried Butternut and Red Lentil Soup with Chard

This week I was craving colorful anti-oxidant full healthy chow. I had gotten some beautiful chard from Horny Toad Farms this week and some sweet little butternut squash. I rifled through my ever expanding cookbook selection and grabbed 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. I know with a volume that big, I was sure to find something perfect for what I was craving. It was a good call.

I love Robin's books and this one is not exception. If you are not a cook book junkie like me, this is a great book to have as it has such a huge variety of recipes. She is the queen of easy and quick vegan deliciousness. The only down side to this book is there aren't any pictures. I haven't made a lot from this one yet, but after this delicious soup, I am wondering why?

Grab a spoon and prepare to feel the glow of colorful veggies and deliciousness.

Curried Butternut and Red Lentil Soup with Chard
from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (publisher)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon hot or mild curry powder
1 - 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
1 cup red lentils, picked over, rinsed, and drained
5 cups vegetable broth
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chopped stemmed Swiss chard (I used about 5 cups)

In a large soup pot, heal the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, squash and garlic. Cover and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the ginger and curry powder, then add the tomatoes, lentils, broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the lentils and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

About 15 minutes before serving, stir in the chard. Taste, adjusting seasonings if necessary, and serve.

MOFO - Day 6 - More Tempeh and The Vegan Table!

Day six and still going strong! Today I bring you yet another delectable preparation for the might tempeh. One of my blogateers mentioned to me yesterday that tempeh is much more easily digestible than tofu for people who are sensitive to some soy products. Score another point for TEMPEH!

This week's cookbook challenge over at the PPK is The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I just got this book in the mail the other day. I am now asking myself, "What was I waiting for?" I really like her writing style and the layout of the book. She offers great seasonal menus and helpful hints for entertaining for all diffent kinds of events. The pictures are gorgeous! I love to entertain, so this book is a winner already in my book. If you aren't into entertaining, this book is still worth getting. It looks to be full of really great and pretty healthy recipes. I've only made one so far, but I have my eyes on quite a few.

I asked Fred to pick the first recipe. The only criteria I gave him is that it had to contain tempeh. Now, for those who have been following the blog for a while, you already probably know that Fred is not a fan of tempeh. He finds the hint of bitterness unappealing and something about the texture doesn't always work for him. I am happy to report that he ate his tempeh happily this time! He chose the Sweet and Sour Tempeh. He was semi-ashamed to admit that he loved the junky bright red sweet and sour sauce you get in cheap Chinese restaurants. I was never a fan, so I was quite pleased when this recipe didn't turn out anything like that version. It more closely resembled the Thai versions out there. I totally spaced out starting the rice ahead of time, so I threw on some quinoa. I have to say, I may want quinoa with all of my Asian inspired dishes from here on out (after all it is the only grain that is a complete protein---bonus!).

Don't forget to check back Friday! I will be giving some lucky follower their own brand spanking new copy of The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman. I just got my copy in the mail this week. It looks awesome and I can't wait to try some burgers! Make sure you comment of Friday's post to be eligible to win!! Tell your friends too!!!

Another Look at the Conscious Cook

For quite some time I had been reading and hearing about what a great book the Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen was. Truth is, I had kind of put a moratorium on buying new cook books and I hadn't bought this one yet. Thankfully, Tami Noyes over at Vegan Appetite chose his book for two of our Vine and Dine cook alongs giving me my first taste of Tal Ronnen's talent.

I've only made three recipes from the book so far, and I have to say each one was very, very good! I love hard cover cook books, so I was pleased when this one came in a hard cover version. The publisher includes some beautiful pictures of the food. There is a very nice section giving a little information on becoming vegan and some banter from guest chefs. The recipes are easy to read and understand. He is all about Gardein, which I am on the fence about. But it is easy enough to substitute your own home made seitan and proteins. This one is definitely worth considering for your cook book collection. I'm sure excited it is part of mine! I look forward to making more yumminess from it soon. I have my eye on the free form pasta!!!

PPK Cook Book Challenge - Week 10 - Viva Vegan

Week 10 featured Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan. Yes, I am very late posting for week 10. But no, I didn't want to miss this book. I was a tester for this book what seems like years ago. It is full of fantastic latin influenced recipes. The flavors and textures of Terry's dishes are truly inspired. I love this book not only for its great variety of dishes, but for how well it is laid out. This may sound strange, but the font style and size make it very easy to read when you are flying around the kitchen. You've got to try the Spicy Tortilla Casserole with Pablanos (pg. 142). You might have to take out a second mortgage to buy pine nuts these days, but the pine nut crema is outstanding. I also fell in love with the Tostones with Avocado and Palm Ceviche (pg. 61). I took a bit of a liberty with this recipe. I didn't make the tostones, but served the Ceviche in an avocado half. Heaven!!

I tested many recipes for this book, but I never braved tamale making during testing (or before for that matter). I have to admit, I am not a tamale fan or lover, so to take hours to make something I feel "meh" about, was not on the top of my list. However, I do have a slight obsession with trying cooking techniques that I have not used much in the past. I am not a stranger to tamale making per se. My good friend ML introduced me to the process several years ago. Now SHE knows how to make the tamale experience fun. There are always margaritas and beer flowing at the assembly table. She invites a whole gaggle of women over to make quick work of the assembly. Her delightfully funny hubby Mike made up a special tool for mixing up the masa (think power drill with a strange mixing device on the end). She makes her fillings from scratch and has them ready to go when her assembly team arrives. Her tamales are famous at work, but they are decidedly not vegan.

I had actually purchased the corn husks during testing for the book. Thankfully those puppies last forever. I decided if I was going to do this thing, I would do two different varieties. I chose the Black Bean-Sweet Potato Tamales and the Red Chile Seitan Tamales. I made the Steamed Red Seitan in the morning. Then I made the filling for the black bean and sweet potato version. I had a very bad run at making Terry's chili sauce because I skipped the very important note on rinsing the chiles after they were soft. Talk about bitter. Holy crap!!! The second shot turned out perfect using a combination of Pasillas and Chile de Arbol. Nice heat.

This project was a semi-last minute decision, so I was certain I would be alone in my tamale adventure as I was solo this weekend. You have to love FB! I put a call out and my awesome friend Daphne volunteered to roll with me. We never seem to have time to hang out together, so this was a double bonus. It was a good thing she came. She had to teach me some rolling techniques, as I didn't take the time to read Terry's most excellent tutorial. So we spend several hours assembling, watching Food Network and enjoying some Mexican beer. Oh yeah!!!

The masa dough was really great to work with. Daphne noted that usually she is covered with sticky masa all over her hands and, well, pretty much every where. I mixed up a double batch of the savory masa dough (pg. 188), soaked the husks, and we got to rolling. It took a lot more than an hour to get them to firm up. But firm up they did. I thought they were both very tasty, but for me the Red Chile Seitan were the big winner. The chile sauce was soooo good on them too. We gorged ourselves on a few of the little beauties, Daphne took a bunch home and the rest are in the freezer. I love having back up meals in the freezer. So, in short, this is an excellent tamale recipe, but for me, if I'm going to take on a day long project, I would probably be making up some pierogi or home made ravioli.  But if you are a tamale lover, I highly recommend making these. The texture and flavor are just like the non-vegan version.

Feast your eyes:

Daphne is ready to roll. Here is our assembly line.

In the steamer

Getting Sauced - Tamales and Cooks

Black Bean and Sweet Potato

A little blurry, but here is the Red Chile Seitan Version

Tomorrow: Fred and I are joining Tami and Jim of Vegan Appetite and Liz and Matthew of Cooking the Vegan Books for Vine and Dine. Whence the chicks make a recipe from an awesome vegan cook book and the dudes pair a wine. Then we tell you all about it! This week's recipe was from the Conscious Cook and Fred did a great job with the pairing...until tomorrow!!

PPK Cook Book Challenge - Week 9 - Yellow Rose Recipes

This poor book has been ignored for so long. Joanna was the second author I had the honor to test for. This week and next week are crazy busy for us as hike day is quickly approaching. I thought I wouldn't get to the challenge this week. I had two food commitments this week and I was able to find recipes for both in YRR.

I have class on Tuesday nights. Each week four of us are responsible for bringing something for the rest of the class to eat. I volunteered to make sloppy Joe's. One of my class mates knows I don't eat meat, so she said she was surprised I offered to make them. I just smiled. Thankfully Joanna has her own version called Sloppy Joanna's. I made a quadruple batch so that I could feed the class. I added the optional green peppers because I like veggie content. They were a hit. Several of my classmates commented on how good they were. My instructor asked me if they were made from chicken :)

Thursday night was Dining for Women night. For this gathering I made the Wild Rice Salad. It has wild rice, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and kalamata olives. It was a simple recipe, but I had to giggle reading that she made these when the fridge was empty and she was poor. These are not inexpensive ingredients. It was simple and tasty, but I don't know if I'd spend the money on wild rice for this one. I think I'd save wild rice for other dishes.

I had some seitan cutlets left over from AVK week, so I decided to make a dish I knew I loved - the Mustard Crusted Seitan. I also slipped in another YRR recipe the as the side dish, Lemon Collards. It was a quick and satisfying dinner after my evening work out. 

Yellow Rose Recipes was written with families in mind. Most of the recipes feature easy to find ingredients, are health and easy to make. This is a wonderful cook book for anyone. The only complaint I have is that there aren't more recipes. Joanna has retired from cook book writing (for now). I hope she changes her mind, because I puffy heart her stuff.

PPK Cook Book Challenge - Week 8 - American Vegan Kitchen

This week's featured book was American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes from Vegan Appetite. I was lucky enough to be a tester for this book. Last summer I also had the pleasure of meeting Tami and her awesome hubby Jim in Chicago last year. The book is wonderful and so are they. It's amazing how good food can forge really special friendships. This book is full of wonderful down-home style recipes. I tried a few this week that I hadn't tried before the results were fantastic (not surprising). This is another must have for your collection.

Saturday was a real treat. We had all of the kids and grandkids over. As an added bonus their (great)Grandparents were here visiting from Tucson this weekend. It was so nice to have a house full of family. To feed the crowd, I whipped out some AVK awesomeness!

21st Century Tacos served with CTates Frijoles Negros and my fideo recipe were featured for dinner. I have had this rather chunky TVP in my pantry for some time. It doesn't work well in "meatballs" and such because it want to pop out, but it was perfect for the tacos. I made a double batch and the kids were really thrilled to have some to take home. Were they good? Well, one of our guests, who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, ate 6 tacos. We garnished the tacos with shredded lettuce fresh from our garden, tomatoes, diced onions, fresh avocados, sliced olives and Daiya Cheddar.

Dessert was the very easy but very decadent Crispy Bottom Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Fudge Sauce. This pie is super rich. It is a peanut butter lover's dream. Active time is maybe 15 minutes? There is some freezing time, but you can throw the crust in the freezer while your making the filling. Then spread the filling in throw it in the freezer and get on with the rest of the meal. No fuss. The chocolate fudge sauce is super easy too. It can be made ahead of time and warmed up before drizzling on top. I had to add more chocolate chips to get it to the consistency I wanted. It was a bit too thin following the recipe.

Tonight we had a birthday party on my side of the family. I wanted to take a tasty, but not run of the mill appetizer for the meat eating crowd. I decided on the Stick - to - Your - Ribs Potstickers. I made a double batch because the package of wonton wrappers I bought had 50 in it. I started by making the Savory Seitan (pg. 5). I have always made this as roasts by using the slow cooker method. Today I was a bit short on time an wanted to try the baking/cutlet method. It worked out very well. I had to speed up the cooling process by putting two cutlet in the freezer so that I could get to the party while it was still going on. When I first tasted the filling, I thought it was too sweet, but after sitting for a bit and dipping in the dipping sauce, I found them quite addicting. Only 40 made it to the party and they were gone in no time. The kids were eating them 4 at a time. I love that you can make a big batch and freeze them too. The only thing I might do differently next time is use round goyoza wrappers, just a personal preference on shape. If you have the seitan made ahead of time these actually come together pretty easily. To save time I chopped the seitan cutlets in the food processor. They were the perfect "ground pork" texture.

PPK Cook Book Challenge - Week 7 - 500 Vegan Recipes

This week's book was 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman. I am sad to say I was so busy this week, I did not give these two fab authors their due. I did manage to make 3 different recipes and I'm looking forward to trying many more. I spend many months drooling over testers' pictures and testing while this book was in the works. So I know it is going to provide me with much awesomeness.

My first selection was the Blueberry Orange Muffins. I chose this for two reasons. The first is that our orange tree is full of sweet, juicy, beautiful oranges right now. The second reason is that 3 of my girlfriends from work were coming by at 4am to make 120 breakfast burritos and they needed some awesome vegan fuel for our marathon. I didn't get a picture of the muffins, because, well, I don't find muffins particularly photogenic. The muffins were nice and light and not too sweet. There was just a hint of orange. I used frozen blueberries instead of fresh. I think they would be even better with a touch of orange zest to up the orange profile just a tad.

Next I made something that would be easy for work lunches. I love any excuse to use barley, so with those two criteria in mind, I made the Jalapeno-Lime Barley Salad. According to the book, this as the first vegan dish Joni's mom whipped up for her. It is a simple and light dish. This would be a great potluck dish for a summer outing. For my tastes it was a little on the bland side. I will probably up the jalapeno and lime next time.

Tonight I got home and realized I had only done two recipes for the week. I decided to be naughty and make dessert. I decided to make the simply lovely Coconut-Vanilla Pudding. This recipe has only a few ingredients and comes together in no time. It does require some chilling time, but active time is probably less than 10 minutes. I decided to fancy it up a bit with caramelized plantains with oranges and cinnamon. I thought the plantains would be a nice compliment to the hint of coconut. It was creamy and quite lovely. I did use vanilla hemp milk for my non-dairy milk.

Looking through the book, the recipes are well written and well organized. I love books that have a LOT of recipes. It is like when we used to get the JC Penney catalog around Christmas time. Always something to find in the pages to get you excited!!!

PPK Cook Book Challenge - Week 5 - Eat Drink and Be Vegan

I have been suppressed by "the man" so my computer time is very limited on my work days, so my posts are likely to be less frequent. I think I'm really going to like this book. It is new to my collection. This is my first Dreena Burton book. I'm definitely going to have to check out more. I really enjoy her easy to read recipe formats and so far I'm digging her recipes. It is always nice when recipes are pantry friendy. So far I've found hers to be so. I wasn't able to get three recipes done this week, but I did get two done and have two on deck.

Last night we had the Broccoli Cashew Teriyaki Stir Fry. Fred always loves him some stir fry, so I thought I'd throw this one into the mix. When I looked at the sauce recipe, I feared it would be too sweet for my taste. I'm very happy to report it was delicious. I love eating lots of colorful veggies and this dish delivered with the beautiful green broccoli and gorgeous red peppers. I didn't have raw cashews, so I threw in roasted ones. They made the texture nicely crunchy! This was the perfect end to a long day.

I had a craving for something sweet, but didn't want to go crazy on the sugar. I wanted a healthy sweet treat. The Super Charge Me Cookies fit the bill perfectly! They are made with oats and spelt flour. Flax provides some nice omega 3 action. I'm not a raisin fan, so I subbed currants and walnuts. There were a small amount of chocolate chips in the recipe to reign in the sweet beast in my tummy. The recipe made exactly 12 cookies. Were they good. Well they didn't last even one hour at work. Oh yes, they are soooo good. I know I'll be making these for a quick breakfast grab or a hiking treat.

PPK Cookbook Challenge - Week 4 - Vegan with a Vengeance

I am a bit late posting this one. I'm also a bit disappointed I didn't get more than one recipe made. I had high hopes of making the knishes, but alas, it did not happen. It was a crazy busy week. We were out of town for two days, had a couple of fund raisers, went to a Superbowl Party and then there was my Food Network Friday creation. Yep a full week! So my apologies to Isa for neglecting VwaV. This was the first vegan cook book I ever owned, so I do love it, it's just being a little neglected.

I did have time to whip up this tasty and quick gem for lunch one day. The Tofu Dill Sammiches are so easy and awesome. I am a huge dill lover, so this was right up my alley. It also boasts a nice dose of mustard and lemon. A match made in heaven in my opinion. I need to remember this one for those days where there is very little time and a very empty stomach! I have to brag on my lettuce. I picked it fresh from the garden just minutes before this photo was taken.

Vegan with a Vengeance is a wonderful book for cooks of any experience level. I love this book because it uses easy to find and inexpensive ingredients. I still haven't tried the Isa Pizza which I know is going to be awesome. I've already made the ricotta that goes on the pizza and it rocks my world. Make sure to try the Apple Crumb Muffins. They are heavenly!!

PPK Cookbook Challenge - Week 3 - Urban Vegan

This week's challenge was from Urban Vegan by Dynise Balcavage. I had heard and seen some things from this book on the PPK, but this is a new book for me. So I havne't had much time to get to know it intimately yet. In the introduction Dynise gives a nice background on her love of urban life and many things foodie. It makes me want to travel with her and hang out with her. She makes the reader feel comfortable with shaking things up in the kitchen with her recipes. She provides a nice reference for substitutions and a great list for stocking your pantry. The one things I really like is that she reminds the reader that it is best to enjoy foods for what they are, no what you are pretending they should be (e.g. mock meats). She also provides handy icons for low-fat, fast, omni friendly, frugal and kid-friendly dishes. It makes things much easier to navigate if you have specific needs for your recipes.

I had a very hard time selecting my recipes this week, because many of them looked so interesting. I have been a little limited by my quest to lose some weight and quite a few of the recipes were a bit on the calorie dense side (not that there is anything wrong with that). What ultimately guided my decisions this week ended up being what I had in the pantry or fridge. In the spirit of being time savvy I did not want to make another trek to the store.

There is no doubt I have been on a bit of a soup kick. Soups are so comforting and easy to take to work. I love the many flavor, textures and combinations you can stuff into a big ol' pot of soup. But mostly, I know that in another couple of months the desert heat will make eating soup much less appealing. So I'm trying to make things during the winter that would make me melt like a cheap candle in the summer.

First up is the Tunisian Soup (pg. 66). I chose this recipe because I had a giant sized bunch of chard that was fresh and wonderful from the farmers market that I wanted to use. Pro's - Very easy to put together. No special ingredients (well it does call for harissa, but you can sub crushed red pepper which I used). It has your beans and your greens. Con's - for me chickpeas - they do bad things to my digestive system and I am required to sleep outside. I did find the lemon to be very pronounced when the soup was first finished. This mellowed with time in the fridge. The recipes calls for the zest of two lemons but the juice of one. So you need to use the other lemon pretty quickly, but no big deal. This was much more delicious the next day. Next time I will probably sub Cannelini beans. I'd also like to try the harissa.



Next up Roasted Red Pepper and Onion Frittata (pg. 36). This dish certainly did not meet my low cal/fat criteria, but sometimes you gotta throw caution to the wind! - Pro's - the onions caramelized beautifully. This was very flavorful. It was pretty easy to put together. Con's - It takes a couple of pans. I used firm instead of extra firm because I could only get firm in organic. I thought it had cooked plenty long enough and felt firm coming out of the oven, but it was still kind of mushy. I don't blame the recipe, I blame my choice of 'fu. The only downside I truly see is that you have to have plenty of time to let this cool, so you need to plan ahead. My dinner guests were tenative about the cool temp, so I might serve it just a touch warmer next time. We got 6 servings rather than 4 as stated, but we had lots of other food with it. Thumbs up. I'd make this again.

To accompany the frittata I felt it only fitting to carb it up a bit. I served the frittata with Potatoes with 40 Cloves of Garlic - Pro's - Um POTATOES? I think that alone is enough. Hee hee. Actually this was super easy to make. The fresh herbs really make this simple recipe shine. I like the fact you don't have to peel the garlic. Big time saver and a fun presentation. The garlic is sweet and awesome with this. It's a fun way to serve it, so interactive. Con's - I couldn't find any. I will absolutely make this one again. I didn't have fresh sage, so I subbed a smaller amount of rubbed sage. For a potato lover such as myself, this would never make 8 servings as stated in the recipe. Maybe 6. I could probably easily eat half of the recipe myself.


 
In conclusion, I think I am very much going to enjoy this book. It does have some recipes that require some specialty ingredients. I'm an ingredient/spice-aholic, so I don't find this daunting. But some might. However, there are plenty of pantry freindly recipes to choose from. The recipes I tried were all very well balanced with bright and interesting flavors. I am excited about trying more of Dynise's recipes. I've got my eyes on the Sweet Potato Gnocci with Basil Cream Sauce!

Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale by Carla Kelly

This has been a great year for even more great vegan cook books. I had the honor of testing for another incredible vegan author, Carla Kelly. For those of you who have followed my blog or know me in person or from the PPK, you have oft heard me complain a bit about my lack of baking skills. I was a little bit reluctant to offer my services for testing for a baking book. I'm so glad I didn't let my past failures keep me from being part of the testing crew for Carla's upcoming Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale cookbook (due out in January, 2011).

Her recipes include both savory and sweet morsels of deliciousness. A lot of her inspiration comes from British classics that I have never experienced here in the good old US of A. It was a fun and mind expanding experience. Most of the recipes are easy and quick. Most ingredients are pantry friendly (except maybe vegan custard powder which can be found online or some specialty grocers. My favorite recipe, the Car Tire Cookie (pictured below) is a little bit more time consuming than most of the recipes because of the steps involved. Do not shy away from this recipe the steps are pretty simple. I'd buy the book for this recipe alone. Thankfully this is just one of many fantastic recipes, giving you even more reasons to buy the book. I have to say I put on a few lbs. testing for her, but it was worth every pound.

I know I have said this about other books, but you really need this one for your collection. I feel very lucky to have tested for so many wonderful, creative people. Feast your eyes on a few samples from Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale.

Car Tire Cookies

Nanaimo Bars

Yes you read that right. VEGAN Nanaimo Bars. Awesome!

Banofee Pie

Raspberry Clafouti Tart

I must give you a preview of some of the savory goodies too. They are equally yummy!

Up Side Down Olive, Sun Dried Tomato and

Roasted Red Pepper “Cake”

Spicy Corn Biscotti

Asparagus, Pine Nut,

and Roasted Garlic Quiche