pizza revisited

So I had some left-over pizza sauce & "pepperoni" that I thought I'd better put to use before it's time is up. I used the same dough recipe from LDV as before for the ingredients, but read Pizza Dough - A Novel in VWAV this time. I'm sure the instructions are relatively the same, but I certainly didn't follow them the first time I made pizza. This time, as pictured below, I actually kneaded the dough for 10 minutes straight.

And what a difference that made! Instead of tasting like stale bread, it was soft, with a more pizza crust-like texture. I piled on the aforementioned "pepperoni" and used the remaining Follow Your Heart "mozzarella," only I didn't grate it, just sliced it. It would have been better grated, but at the moment the grater I have is 'fine,' more for lemon zest and the like, too small for cheese. It was still delicious.

rating:

4 pineapples

crumbly croquettes

This was probably one of the more tasty dishes I've made in a while. It's VWAV's Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce.

It wasn't too hard to make, though I recommend a nice shallow dish to mash the beans in; it will help avoid the kind of mess I made. I couldn't find any vegan bread crumbs at the grocery store when I went to purchase ingredients, so I got cornflake crumbs. These crumbled apart, and I can't help but wonder if the incorrect crumbs are to blame. Otherwise, this tasted fantastic. I'll be coming back to this for sure; especially for the mushroom sauce!

rating:

5 pineapples

I'm on a baking spree! Someone stop me!!

Here we have Low-fat Banana Bread from Veganomicon. I haven't tried it yet so I will update this post once I do with a review & a rating. In the meantime, I must say, the book had an excellent tip - whenever you must measure molasses, spray the spoon with cooking spray and it slides right out!

***edited to add review***

unfortunately, the molasses takes away from the banana flavor completely. I will not use it again. Otherwise, the texture is good, but I don't like that it cracked on top.

rating:

3 pineapples

Spicy Squash Soup

Soups are so great for many reasons. They don't take much prep time, usually just a good 15 to 20 simmering away in a pot. They're comforting. They're perfect for freezing in single serve containers for lunches.

This recipe, Ginger Butternut Lentil Soup, from LDV made enough for the two of us to have a bowl for dinner and to freeze two 2C bowls for lunches later in the month.

The recipe called for 2" ginger, but perhaps I eyeballed that wrong because it was too spicy for me. Next time I will use less ginger. I sprinkled nutmeg on top for garnish with the cilantro - that finishing touch tasted fantastic.

I made Wolffie's "Buttermilk" Corn Bread, also from LDV & I've posted about that recipe before. And because I liked them so much the first time, I also served the soup along with Sauteed Green Beans with Mushrooms from VWAV as I did just last week. While I still like these a lot, they have a strong flavor, which seemed to fight with the soup. Not a great combination. Oops!

rating:

3.5 pineapples

first cheese pie

Tuesday night we had Mushroom Sausage Pizza and salad. The recipe I used was from LDV, and I'm not too crazy about how the crust turned out. It was good, but I remember making some better though I can't recall which book it came from.

I used remaining Tofurky Italian Sausage that wasn't required for the initial dish, and I used (for the first time) Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese Alternative. Oddly enough, I had purchased the same day a grater, but it is fine (because I wanted it for lemon zest) so the 'cheese' kind of came out in clumps, but as you can see from the photo, it melted rather uniformly. (fyi, I have tried other vegan 'cheeses' but never on a pizza!)

The pizza was yummy. There was plenty left to eat the next night. I tried one piece reheated in the microwave, and the crust seemed... not good. So I heated the rest in the oven & it was much better.

rating:

4.5 pineapples

muffin luffin

If you hadn't noticed, I love blueberries. And I also have a giant bag of them that we picked up at Costco in the freezer. This was the first time I used my new Wilton silicone muffin cups; they're heart shaped! I didn't use a recipe from any of my cookbooks, because the only one was for banana blueberry muffins. I've made those before and they taste too much like banana. So, in this instance as I often do in such an instance, I consulted VegWeb. The recipe I used was called: Very Simple Blueberry Muffins. They came out very light & fluffy, but I think I would make them sweeter next time.

The cups were great - the muffins popped right out after baking, and I was able to put the cups in the dishwasher to clean.

rating:

4 pineapples

vegan convenience

Sometimes I like to keep things like this in the freezer, much like one might also have a couple cans of soup on hand. It's not really good to eat these all the time, due to the fat & sodium amounts, but I find it's better to eat some 'real' food when I'm really hungry & without time than to over eat on snacks or to get fast food.

Amy's makes several tasty frozen foods that are conveniently labeled "VEGAN" just before the ingredients lists (others do not have this, as some items are only vegetarian), so you can tell in a quick glance whether it's something edible. I really like the Enchilada Meal and the Bean & Rice Burritos - they're ready to eat after a few minutes in the microwave. Above is pictured the Vegetable Pot Pie; I had to microwave it for 3 minutes, then bake it for 15, so it's a bit less time convenient than the other options. When I make Tofu Vegetable Potpie myself, it tastes way better than this, but it takes way longer than 18mins. Put that way, it is still a convenience, if you're craving pot pie.

rating:

3.5 pineapples

doglicious dinner

VLB had a great idea: Pups in Blankets. I bought these to make for lunches, but last night I was too hungry to wait while I cooked, so I popped these & some fries into the oven and we ate within 20mins.

The cookbook has a recipe to make your own pastry wrap, but I just got a can cos I'm lazy. It's perfect: 8 Smart Dogs in a package and 8 croissants in a package. Those are my favorite brand. It's fun to see what my boyfriend thinks of all these alternative products, because I've been vegan too long to really remember what the non-vegan stuff tastes like for comparison. He said the taste is the same, but the texture isn't as firm. Now I've tried Yves before, and while they do have a more realistic texture, I just don't like the taste as much as the Smart Dogs.

This is very easy. There's not any cooking involved, just waiting on the oven timer. Would be good as a lunch; remember to pack some mustard for dipping.

Ohh, and lastly, you'll notice in the photo that the cookie sheet is covered in aluminum foil. I do this for everything I bake on it because you never have to worry about scrubbing baked on food off your sheet this way, just remove the foil & wash.

rating:

4 pineapples

freaky fried 'chicken'

Are you scared yet? I was. Keep reading!

What an adventure! I must have been feeling fairly brave because I attempted LDV's Jay-Lo's Fried "Chicken" which entailed making Faux Chicken from scratch. I didn't really look at the recipe, I just thought I wanted to try my hand at it, and then found it takes a loooooong time to make!

First you start with water & vital wheat gluten, kneading it into the umm... dough? I guess you might call it. Then you prepare a broth in which they have to simmer for an hour, turning several times. Then there is an option to bake them for a half hour "for a chewier texture." Well, as I've never made these before & you saw above how creepy they looked after simmering I thought it best to bake them just incase they might have a squishy, nasty texture. When I pulled them from the oven, they basically looked the same only darker.

Afterwards I breaded and fried them, producing this:

(pardon the half-eaten state of the meal - I almost forgot to take a photo at all!)

They were... very chewy. And I had to put bbq on them; even then I only ate a few bites & passed the rest on to the bf!

On the side you can see the green beans I made - those were delicious! They're Sauteed Green Beans with Mushrooms from VWAV. I had just got a bottle of white cooking wine last night for another recipe in this book, and this one called for some too. Best veggies I've ever had. My rating below is for the freaky fried chicken, but the beans are 5 Pineapples all the way!

rating:

0 pineapples

everything's better with blueberries!

Usually I don't use a recipe for pancakes, nor do I measure, but I hadn't cooked them in so long I felt I'd better reference one. I consulted Vegan With A Vengeance's Pancakes recipe; I added a touch of apple cider vinegar to the soymilk and more spices than were called for. I also tried to use a bit of whole grain pastry flour, but wasn't thrilled with how the flour made it come out.

rating:

3.5 pineapples