Kitchen Disasters

Maybe not disasters, but nothing went right for me yesterday. I'll start with food from Tuesday to make me feel better. I took a sick day on Tuesday (from my one class, haha) to sleep and relax since I felt a sore throat coming on and I'm seriously sleep deprived. After I slept as much as I could, I wanted to make something, something really easy. So I went to vegweb and found some no-bake cookies to make. I love these types of cookies. These are called No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oat Cookies. They're yummy and store well in the freezer. I used about 1/2 a cup less sugar and threw in some chocolate chips.














I am trying to use up the pasta I have before buying anymore so I decided to make an easy stuffed cannelloni for dinner. I used the basil tofu ricotta from VwaV. I accidentally used less tofu than required (don't ask how) but it still tasted great. I used it as the stuffing, used a jar of mushroom tomato sauce to cover the shells and topped it all with some easy Faux Parm from How It All Vegan and baked for an hour. So good and comforting! I didn't want anything too fancy, and this was just perfect. Oh and I also served it with my new favourite side: lightly fried and breaded zucchini. This meal was inspired by a post at Squirrel's Vegan Kitchen.














Now, on to the disasters (yes I post the good with the bad!) First I made the butternut chive soup from HIAV. Unknown to me, there was a typo in the recipe. It was quite obvious but I let my need to follow recipes ruin it...so needless to say there was way too much pepper in this soup...to the point of burning my throat and giving me heartburn (which I haven't had since I gave up red meat 9 years ago). It was totally inedible. The rest of the ingredients in the soup were fine though and I hate wasting food...so I made a second batch of the soup and mixed them together. For the second batch I used basmati rice instead of white beans since I didn't have any left, and green onions instead of chives for the same reason. It tastes much better now...still very pepper-y, but I can eat it at least, and its quite yummy.

I had fennel left from the hummus quinoa casserole so I made the moroccan chickpea patties from Vive that I've seen in a few other blogs. These didn't firm up at all when I fried them. So they pretty much got fried on the outside and were mushy in the middle. I still ate them though...they taste great! This is probably my fault...I should've made smaller patties and used a skillet, not our griddle thing-y.

Billy's parents are coming on Sunday to watch the Grey Cup at my parents' house. Shirl's bringing me some chili, as per their tradition, but I have to think up some good appies and dessert to serve...

testing, testing...

Yay, for now pictures are working, so I'll post while I can. Of course there's a back log of pictures. This is sesame asparagus from VwaV. Its pretty good, but the roasted asparagus in LDV remains my favourite. I had it with whole wheat spaghetti and leftover tomato sauce from the cabbage rolls.













Next is the cauliflower red lentil soup from La Dolce Vegan. I just realised that I repeated everything I said earlier about the asparagus, so if you want the description, just scroll down to the "failing miserably" post :P













Stupid me, I forgot the plug in that lets me transfer photos onto the computer at home...so I'll have to post the rest tomorrow!!

You know you're a procrastinator when...

I will never understand why I'll devote all the time in the world to my blog during the school year, when its the last thing I should do, but now when I'm only taking one correspondence course, I put it off. Weird!

So this means I've probably got a long post, with lots of pictures. I haven't really been inspired to cook lately, so I haven't been trying a whole lot of new things, but I did some groceries today, and I feel like cookin' again! Bam!

First, from Vegan with a Vengeance, I've mostly been making cookies and junk. A lot of the recipes seem complicated, so I haven't made any entrees or anything. I made the Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies. Cookie heaven! Chocolate cookies with an almond flavouring, with a dollop of jam in the middle. So freakin' cute! And delicious too. Between me, my mom, and my boyfriend, these didn't last long at all. I imagine these would be great with raspberry jam, but I worked with what I had, apricot and strawberry. Both were equally good. Its a really soft cookie.














Also from VwaV, Chocolate-Rum Pudding Cake. I've never made or eaten pudding cake before, and it is pretty good. It wasn't fancy or anything, but it was a great treat while watching CSI late at night...I loved how the "pudding" kind of went to the bottom of the cake. I tried it with ice cream, but preferred it all on its own. It was a pretty rich cake, best served with a glass of vanilla soymilk.














Then I made oatmeal banana raisin waffles from VwaV for breakfast. What a pain in the butt. I'm not sure if it was the texture of the batter or the waffle iron, or a combination of both, but the first batch was ruined. The batter stuck to the very well oiled iron and it still isn't clean! The second batch made it through, but I wasn't all that impressed with the waffles. They seemed kind of grainy. But there was a nice banana-cinnamon taste to them. I think I'd maybe try them again, to overcome the negative feelings from the first batch.














While we're on this "baked goods" roll, let me introduce Cootie's Coconut Cookies from How It All Vegan. These gems are like banana bread cookies, with the twist of coconut in them. Yum! These didn't last long either, and this time I was the only one eating them ;). Billy would love these, if I left the coconut out. I have dreams of trying this recipe again with chocolate chips instead of coconut. Mmmm mmmm. These were so simple to make, I whipped them up after a long shift at work and curled up with my book (Scar Tissue) to enjoy them warm from the oven. They are moist and sweet and full of banana flavour.














Now with all this junk food, I feel I have to present something healthy! Last week, I had a craving for a pasta dish that needed to be quick enough to make before work. Enter Vive le Vegan's Pureed Chickpea Pasta Sauce with Fresh Herbs. Oh my yum! It is so delicious and so easy to make, you just puree all the ingredients in a food processor, add some herbs and green onion and toss with cooked pasta. I really wanted to use my whole wheat bowtie pasta, so I did, but I think this sauce would work great with noodles too. And I didn't make enough pasta, so the sauce was a bit excessive, but that's my fault. The sauce has chickpeas, garlic, sunflower oil, lemon juice, miso, tamari, vinegar, dry mustard and some spices and seasonings, including turmeric, with soymilk. Fresh parsley and oregano were stirred in at the last minute, and it was all served with fresh lemon. I loved it! Its tangy and delectable.














So I'm all caught up now. Tonite I'm making cabbage rolls from La Dolce Vegan. I'll post about those soon.
Some life updates:
I saw the Da Vinci Code yesterday. It was alright, I was a little disappointed with some of the changes they made from the book, and I spent the whole carride home pointing out those changes :P I'm like that.
Billy got accepted to Sports Administration at LU, the same school as me...so next year we'll both be starving students together :) I'm really proud of him. He didn't get into the Phys Ed. program he wanted but he's excited about this program, and they only accepted 50 people. Its the only program of its kind, so its a great opportunity for him.

Well I'd best get cooking!

Mac and Cheese Casserole

I got lazy for a few days...but I'm back with lots of pictures. The last recipe from Week 2 of Vegan Cooking for One was Piquant Chickpea Spread. Chickpeas, cumin, coriander, soy yogurt and Tabasco sauce...all mashed together and served on rolls or in pita. Watch the Tabasco on this one...I accidentally made mine extra piquant ;) Not bad...I still prefer chickpeas mashed with Vegenaise though.














Next thing I made: Black bean and lentil salad from La Dolce Vegan. I don't like bean salads usually. I find they're boring or just not tasty enough to keep eating. Sarah Kramer writes something similar in the book. But this salad is delish! It is very flavourful. And pretty. Its another "Wolffie Winner". Black beans, lentils, corn, red onion, red pepper, and a lovely oil and vinegar dressing. I love love love the colours in this salad. It would be perfect for a picnic or potluck. You could have it as a meal with a side or as a side, or as a quick and easy lunch.
















I made a few things from Vegan with a Vengeance. Two of the recipes being for cookies. Billy approves of both so far, which makes the book worth buying already ;). I made the gigantoid crunchy peanut butter oatmeal cookies (or something to that effect) and the chocolate thumbprints (which I'll post tomorrow). The pb oatmeal cookies were huge! and so chewy and awesome. If you make these, get yourself a big glass of soymilk to up the perfection of this snack. I also threw in a few chocolate chips, which were great. I'll definitely add the chips next time too. For me, chocolate makes everything better. Yes, there is a big bite taken out of one of the cookies...the cookie monster snuck into the kitchen. Word of caution: these are the kind of cookies that don't seem done at all when they actually are. Take them out after the specified cooking time and just let them sit, they really do firm up. Some of mine burned at the edges because I thought they weren't cooked at all!














I had some food sitting in the fridge that had to be used up. So, using VwaV's Tofu Scramble as inspiration I threw together a breakfast dinner before work. Tofu scrambled with collards, tomato, carrot, mushrooms, onion, and garlic with seasoning (turmeric, paprika, cumin, salt) and nutritional yeast. It ended up being more veggie than tofu, but it was a good, quick, nutritious meal to fuel me up before work. I served it with some cauliflower and cinnamon raisin muffins.














I was browsing through a "magazine" that Kraft sent to my mom. It had a bunch of recipes using their products, of course. I decided to veganize some, just to get back at 'em, and because they looked yummy. The first one I experimented with was the "Cheesy Mac-topped Casserole". It is now Melissa's mac'n'cheese casserole ;). Here's how I veganized it:

I made the macaroni and cheese recipe from La Dolce Vegan (you can also use your own recipe or one from another source). I would use about one and a half cups of uncooked macaroni to use on the casserole.














The rest of the ingredients are:
1 pkg. ground round (I used President's Choice)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 can (19 oz.) Aylmer Accents Petite Cut Tomatoes with Garlic and Olive Oil, undrained
2 cups frozen green beans, thawed, drained
1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese ( I used Earth Island's Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare the mac and cheese. Meanwhile, cook the ground round with the garlic and oregano in a large nonstick skillet for 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes with their liquid and the beans; mix well.














Spoon meat mixture into 13x9-inch baking dish; top evenly with prepared mac and cheese. Cover with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through and bubbling. Remove from oven; uncover. Sprinkled shredded cheese over top. Put back in oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese.














Makes 6 servings.
You can make this ahead of time by assembling the casserole (without shredded cheese) and covering for up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, bake at 375 F for 40-45 minutes or til heated through. Continue as directed.

This is my first attempt at making my own recipe, so I wasn't expecting any miracles. I found it was okay, but the flavour improved the next day as leftovers. Billy said it needed more seasoning, possibly some chili powder or something. But I'm not *that* creative yet, haha. All in all, I'd rather just eat the delicious mac and cheese on its own, but I think this casserole is well rounded, with whole wheat pasta, protein and nutrients from the fortified ground round and veggies from the tomatoes and green beans. Plus the awesomeness of the cheese :P. It was pretty easy to make. I can see myself making this ahead of time on a weekend during the school year and just baking it on Sunday or Monday. The leftovers would last me almost through the week.

I'm sure many of you awesome cooks out there can think of some variations and improvements...which I'd really like to hear about if you do!

Well this post was a long time in the making, but I finally got through it. Tomorrow I'll post the cookies and cake and waffles I made and will be making from VwaV.