Vegan Sugar

the perfect treats for vegans who love sweets

2010-04-25T10:19:00.009-05:00

My first trip to FiddleCakes did not disappoint! Above is my tasty breakfast of a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and a blueberry muffin. The service is excellent and the food is delicious. It was very busy that Saturday morning, and the seating is limited, but even as such we were able to sit down and enjoy our morning.
Not everything is vegan, but they have it all labeled (and there were more vegan goodies there than were listed on the website menu). Check it out; you'll be glad you did.

rating:

5 pineapples!

awful waffle

2010-02-01T21:22:00.005-06:00

Got a waffle iron. Still working out the perfect recipe. These came out tasting good, but texturally lacking. It was basically a waffle shaped pancake - not very crispy.

rating:

2 pineapples

winter welcomes soups

2010-01-24T12:38:00.005-06:00

Even though it's much warmer here than I'm used to this time of year, I have still been craving soups. Last night I made a soup from Veganomicon called Baked Potato and Greens Soup with Potato Wedge Croutons, except in place of idaho spuds and kale, I used red potatoes and spinach. What's particularly tasty about this dish is the potato crouton - it lends texture to the soup as well as a bit more heat. And what a great way to get in some greens!

rating:

3.5 pineapples

Viva Vegan Lasagna

2010-01-22T18:40:00.007-06:00

This week my boyfriend cooked for me. He made a vegan meatloaf alongside mashed potatoes & peas, the image of which he refused to have published here. He said it looked like a TV dinner, but it was tasty none the less. The other night we decided to attempt vegan lasagna together.

The recipe called for 4-6 slices of vegan mozzarella, diced. Well, Whole Foods only had a huge block of vegan mozzarella, and my boyfriend was in charge of cutting that. So we had huge cubes of "cheese" that didn't melt - tasted good, but didn't melt.
I'm really hesitant to try recipes from VegWeb because, like the one we used, some aren't very well written. This one continually called for 'a package of this, about a package of that,' in place of actual measurements. The faux ricotta came out green, and in my opinion, kind of gross.

We had fun constructing it together, but I had considerably less fun actually eating it. I don't even know if any of the cookbooks I have contain a lasagna recipe, but I really hope to find one I like.

rating:

1 pineapple

pink pig cupcakes

2009-10-10T11:48:00.007-05:00

Not much of a story here. My boyfriend loves pigs, and we stole the idea for these cupcakes from the cover of a magazine. We didn't use any recipe, just boxed mix, omitting eggs.

These were easy & fun to make. Tasted as good as a boxed mix cupcake could.

rating:

3 pineapples

Tempehtation

2009-09-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

VWAV's TLT Sammiches are incredibly delicious! Start with the Tempeh Bacon recipe; remember this has to marinate for at least an hour, but I find it tastes best if left to sit over night in the fridge. Once you've got that, it takes about 10 minutes to cook the "bacon" (which by the way holds zero resemblance to the animal version, but tastes very good all the same) and slap these monsters together. Imagine it: toasted bread, hummus, tempeh bacon, onion, tomato, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts... mmm my mouth is watering just describing it.

I served it along with another dish from VWAV: Herb-Roasted Potatoes. Now those were a big hit! I didn't have fresh herbs so I had to use dried; they were still very yummy but I imagine even more so had I been able to use fresh.

These recipes both made enough to have the same the next day. Certainly a left-over I look forward to! Because this is so tasty & satisfying, and better still - so quick & easy to make, I plan on coming back to this again & again.

rating:

5 pineapples!

burrit....ohhhh :(

2009-09-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

Because it's something I've never had before & because I love burritos, I tried LDV's Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos. I had some kind of dish in NYC that involved black beans & yams, so I figured this should be just as tasty.

Well, it wasn't. It wasn't inedible, granted I only finished half my burrito. This might be a good dish for someone who wants to sneak healthy black beans & yams into their diet, but for someone like me who loves both and loves traditional burritos even more - not a good meal to make. That being said, I will not be revisiting this ever again. At least they looked pretty.

rating:

2 pineapples

..... also, if anyone knows how to fold burritos that information would be extremely helpful.

baker beware

2009-09-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

The following cookies should only be baked for others; take great caution in being alone with these.

That Isa really knows her sweets! Her Big Gigantoid Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies recipe in VWAV is amazing. It calls for a considerably large amount of vanilla, which makes the peanut butter taste especially creamy. These came out a great texture, soft in the middle.

rating:

5 pineapples!

Tofu Potpie

2009-09-07T16:38:00.000-05:00

I can never cook this without thinking of my sister - she LOVES this dish!

I'll admit - I've sometimes used frozen, ready-made pie crusts, but for this pie I used a recipe from LDV called Wolffie's Quick Whole Wheat Pie Crust. I doubled the recipe since I needed a bottom & top crust and substituted half the flour with whole grain pastry flour. It is one of the better crusts I've ever made.

I always use VWAV's Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy recipe while I'm baking the tofu, for which I typically whip up a marinade at whim. (This time it involved a bit of white vinegar, olive oil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, black pepper, and soy sauce.)

Thrown into the potpie were: carrots, peas, corn, potato, tofu, & the gravy. It baked at 350 for far too long so I kicked it up to 375 to get the top to brown, but was impatient yet, thus the rather light appearance of the top crust. Oh, and I always carve a design atop the pie. I have several photos of these pies - one with 26 that I made for my sister's birthday, one with a tree for Christmas, etc.

Here's what the filling looked like:

I let the gravy get too thick this time, that would have been easily fixed by adding water, but I was making this very late in the evening and was simply too hungry to care much about perfection - edible worked for me.

rating:

4 pineapples

Cafe Sunflower, Atlanta GA

2009-09-07T16:17:00.000-05:00

I recently visited Atlanta, GA to pet the sharks and rays at Georgia Aquarium and to taste a variety of sodas at The World of Coca-Cola.

While in town, my boyfriend also took me to dinner at Cafe Sunflower.

We shared an appetizer of Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip:

This was tasty, but as you can see, more a dish for only one. I would definitely love to learn how to make this dip at home. Seems it might be easy enough... I should hunt for a recipe!

Then he had the Peppercorn Crusted Tempeh:

It seemed a bit over-spicey to me. The tempeh certainly packed enough punch, but the potatoes were highly seasoned as well. It looks pretty, but tasted like nothing special.

I resisted my urge to eat my favorite food (burrito - this one would have had fake steak, something I've not tried) and instead ordered the Vegan Polenta Napoleon:

Looks gorgeous, doesn't it? I ate the portabella, a few bites of the coconut corn cake, and half the mock ham. The veggies on the side were wonderful - cooked until just tender. It was a unique taste for me, but not one I'd ever crave.

Finally, we shared a dessert - Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake:

This was creamy and sweet and fantastic. It tasted so good I have sincere doubts I would be able to create something like it on my own.

If we had only appetizers and desserts, the meal would have been perfect!

I really appreciate having had the opportunity to try out this veg restaurant, and enjoyed sharing my thoughts (and pics!) of the experience here. I think I'll be posting more reviews of foods I eat that aren't things I've made myself.

rating:

3 pineapples

casserole

2009-09-07T16:09:00.000-05:00

VWAV: Chickpea Broccoli Casserole.

This is a comfort food. Bland, but I like it that way, as the recipe states, one may add spices. I prefer it as is.

This bakes for 45mins, so it's more something to cook when you have things you'd like to walk away from the kitchen to accomplish. I've made this a few times before; it's a good go to recipe for left over frozen veggies. I also included spare cauliflower & mushrooms this time. For some odd reason I forgot to take a photo of it once I served some, so please pardon the lack of an "inside" view.

rating:

3.5 pineapples

pizza revisited

2009-08-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

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!!

2009-08-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-21T10:38:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-21T09:59:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-17T12:56:00.000-05:00

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'

2009-08-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-08-16T14:32:00.000-05:00

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

Uhh-Cajun to Cook

2009-08-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

Cooked up Shirley's Cajun Red Beans & Rice from LDV this week. It was very.. bland. I thought in measuring the spices that something had to be off and it Shirley was! Above is a shot of the sauteed veggies, broth, & spices coming to a boil for the rice to be added, just because I thought it looked pretty. In reading through the ingredients I thought red pepper would likely taste better, but I went ahead and used green as listed because I knew there was a reason for it - color!! Below is the finished dish, I had to add spices before eating it, if I make this again (as I likely will since I do like beans & rice meals) I will definitely add more spices when cooking.

All in all, this is a basic dish that truly one doesn't even really need a recipe for; so due to the "nothing special" factor, I did not award a high rating.

rating:

2.5 pineapples

I'm Stuffed!

2009-08-11T09:58:00.000-05:00

I've made several dishes from Vegan with a Vengeance; it's really a must-have cookbook.

This, however, was the first time I made Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers. And now that I've eaten it, I can say it's but the first time of many. I'm so glad there's leftovers because I'm anxious to eat it again!

Here I've taken a photo to show the filling before the peppers are baked:

The filling called for a Tbsp Chili Powder. Now I don't know if it's because I used Chipotle Chili Powder, but I added a bit less & these still came out pretty spicy.

This was very easy to make. I chopped all the veggies beforehand, and from there, the dish practically made itself.

I was proud of coming up with the idea to reserve a few slices of mushrooms to garnish the top prior to baking; here's the dish, ready to eat:

rating:

5 pineapples

I haven't had this in over 5 years...

2009-08-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

..and it tasted so good this morning!

LDV's Freedom French Toast is now yet another reason breakfast is my favorite meal of the day!

It was so easy to make, and even easier to eat! I was worried initially because the batter looked thick, but these little slices of heaven turned out perfectly. I'll definitely be coming back to this recipe again & again! The only change I made was to add a ton more cinnamon than was called for & add nutmeg as well.

rating:

5 pineapples!

Indian Lover

2009-08-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

I think of all different types of cuisine, Indian may very well be my favorite. Indian dishes incorporate a real appreciation for fine spices. This kind of food tastes like no other. Indian food can be enjoyed before even taking a bite - it has great appeal due to the rich colors, and most importantly the mouth-watering scent!

Recently, I attempted cooking my first Indian dish. It turned out quite well, apart from consistency. I don't think LDV's recipe for Aloo Gobi Potatoes & Cauliflower called for enough liquid. At only 1/2 C of vegetable stock, look how thick this is.

The best Indian food I've ever had was at Purnima in New York City. There, the aloo gobi was much... wetter, not quite as wet as say a bowl of soup, but certainly much more so than this recipe created. I even added more stock to this recipe, but I was afraid to add too much & take away from the spices; next time I make this I'm going to adjust the whole thing in hopes it will turn out closer to what I had in NYC.

I served this over jasmine rice, simply because I love the smell of jasmine rice cooking. It's really one of the best scents in the world.

For dessert I decided to hazard an attempt at LDV's Mint Chocolate Fudge. This was a mistake, because I don't have a candy thermometer. The recipe didn't turn out like fudge at all... but of course I've been eating the results anyway. It tastes good, but the texture isn't right at all. Ohh well, chocolate is still yum!

rating:

3 pineapples

dessert.... for breakfast!

2009-08-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

1 frozen banana

Soymilk (enough to cover blades & add to taste for perfect consistency)

1/2 scoop Life's Basics Plant Protein powder

3-4 ice cubes

1 1/2 tsp carob powder

1 Tbsp natural peanut butter

1-2 drops of molasses

Blend to perfection & enjoy!

*note: I don't actually measure the carob powder, peanut butter, or molasses; the measurements given are approximate. Experiment & add more/less to taste.

rating:

5 pineapples

ain't nothing wrong with cornbread

2009-08-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

...unless in your haste you forget to add the sugar and only have olive oil to bake with. Oi!

Let me explain.

I started making the corn bread, then had the wonderful idea to do this:

once I had all the dry ingredients mixed up, I put them in a zipper bag and wrote in Sharpie the remaining bits of the recipe - sort of like a store bought mix. Great idea to save time in the future, but not so great when upon mixing up the dry ingredients again, I left out the sugar.

Now the bread is still edible, just not as sweet as I might prefer it.

On the whole, I love this recipe from LDV. It's called Wolffie's "Buttermilk" Cornbread, and what's so wonderful about it is that it calls for equal parts of flour & corn meal, which I think create the perfect texture.

Here it is (without the sugar, oops) baked & partially eaten:

Even though I forgot the sugar the 2nd time mixing the dry ingredients, it wasn't even noticeable as I ate this bread atop chili.

For the main dish, also from LDV, I cooked Tasty Tempeh Chili. Not to say I dislike tempeh, but typically I find I can't eat very much of it because the nutty flavor is too rich for me. However, cooked inside this chili it was delicious. Hands down, this is the best tempeh dish I've ever had. There's another chili recipe in this book that I've made several times before and this one is just as good. My boyfriend prefers the other recipe himself because he doesn't like the "crumbly" texture of tempeh in the chili.

We had this with salad, and the recipe made enough that we'll be having leftovers next day.

rating:

4 pineapples

face not food

2009-08-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

Nothing to do with food, but another kind of vegan goodie: make-up!

I took my first trip into The Cosmetic Market yesterday in the late afternoon. I got some fabulous Urban Decay products I cannot wait to try out!

I have really been wanting the Eyeshadow Primer Potion, but with all those color choices I decided that I would cheat for now, and use their Cream Eyeshadow as a base. I selected the shade Midnight Rodeo. I also couldn't resist the allure of 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil and got that in the shade Stash.

I'll be sure to come back & add to this with my thoughts after I've used the products. I've never tried Urban Decay before, other than the powder brush I have (and love. I won it from a contest at peta2.com), so I'm very excited!

------------------------ Edit to add Review ---------------------------

9 Aug 09

I have used this make up a few times now, and I'm ready to share my opinion!

Cream Eyeshadow: not crazy about the way this goes on; I can't seem to get an even finish. I do love how it holds my mineral make up on with intense color pay off, so it certainly serves the "primer" function I had hoped it would. Secondly, the glitter ends up getting all over my face (though not terribly so - I just have to do a bit of clean up). I am pleased with the color as well; it is fairly close to my skin tone, so it's perfect for an all-over-the-lid color. I would get more shades, but I think first I will end up buying just the Primer Potion & make use of the mineral eye shadows I already own.

24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil: wow! this really does glide right on! Typically I have to heat my eyeliner pencils before applying just to soften them up; this step is not necessary for these pencils. The color is only okay, but it does last long as well, which the pencils I had previously did not. I'd definitely be interested in other shades.

rating:

4 pineapples

Tried & True

2009-08-05T09:13:00.000-05:00

Summer is almost over; I can't believe I'm only just now drinking my first smoothie this year.
Last summer I had one every morning.. and sometimes again during the day, because they're so good!

I make mine like this:
First, I pour enough Silk to cover the blades of my blender; then, I add half a scoop of Life's Basics Plant Protein, followed by frozen fruit. I always use 1 frozen banana, but the other ingredients vary: cinnamon & nutmeg, walnuts, almonds & cocoa, blueberries, strawberries, peanut butter & carob, cocoa & mint extract - anything, really. Finally, I sort of eyeball it & add what I think should be enough Silk to give it the perfect consistency and blend. Sometimes I add 3-4 ice cubes if I want it to be extra chilly, but because the fruit is frozen, they're not necessary.

Today I had a Blueberry Smoothie for breakfast.

rating:

5 pineapples!

I Want My Chocolate Chips Back!

2009-08-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

I baked Back-to-School Chocolate Chip Cookies from VLB, and I want my chocolate chips back! These are the worst vegan sweets to have ever entered my mouth. I won't be finishing them (and there's about 4 dozen), so I sincerely hope my boyfriend likes them.

They are pouffy. They taste like tofu.

A chocolate chip cookie should be thin, chewy at the edges, and soft in the center. These are none of those things; all they are is a waste of fine chocolate - something I don't often indulge in.

I can't wait until these are gone so that I can bake a redeeming cookie!

rating:

0 pineapples

first lunch...

2009-08-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

inspired by Vegan Lunch Box. My apologies, I forgot to take photos of this one.

Multigrain crackers topped with veggie 'pepperoni' slices & rice 'cheese'.

Fresh sliced peach.

Easy Potato Salad (I don't eat the stuff myself, but I'm told it rates at 3.5 pineapples)

I was supposed to make Chocolate Chip Cookies, but didn't have time, so I packed a few Oreos instead.

My next post will detail the choc chip cookies.

rating:

3.5 pineapples

first dinner...

2009-08-04T12:09:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't get started cooking the vegan recipes right away. First I cooked meals from ingredients I already had at home before I moved on to the new groceries. Then, I took a trip to Costco and ended up making a cheater meal - Manwich w/Boca crumbles and side of french fries. I now have another 5 cans of that, in case I need a break from cooking some nights or am pressed for time.

Finally, I got around to cooking from one of the vegan cookbooks:
I made Punk-kin Pasta from LDV.

It tasted just as bad as it looks, though the Tofurky Italian Sausages seemed they might be good in a better dish. This recipe only required 2 of the 4 links in the package, so I will soon be making something else out of them.

rating:

1.5 pineapples

TN Vegan

2009-08-01T20:11:00.000-05:00

Here I am, on my way from Ohio to Tennessee.

I'm writing this at the end of my first week here since moving, and I'm happy to say I'm just about settled in. Living close to a Whole Foods store seems much better than living near two small locally owned health food stores (Cindy's Health & Vitality and Living Naturally) as I did in Ohio, where selections were slim. There are also many restaurants here with vegan dishes too. :)

It's exciting to have someone to cook for; in Ohio, I only cooked once or twice a week because recipes made 4-6 servings, that I had to eat as leftovers the rest of the week. I have several vegan cookbooks that I'm anxious to try out. So far, I'm certain I'm going to explore Vegan Lunch Box from cover to cover. I've already got groceries for the first three recipes to eat this week, and some for dinners out of a different cookbook: La Dolce Vegan! Time permitting, I would like to blog about my culinary adventures this week.