Happy 100!

After rehearsal tonight I still needed to finish off my hundred.  I had planned on making cookies, but with the Baker out of town, keeping things running around the house has kinda kept me busy and a rough day Tuesday threw me for a loop I have not quite recovered from.  So I decided to finish with a fun and fizzy smoothie.

Thank you Mama Pea for your tasty, tangy non-alcoholic (I promise) margarita smoothie.  It hit the spot after a long, hard week and at the end of my summer cooking challenge.  I questioned the cilantro, but the fizzy seltzer, lime, pineapple, and even spinach, are a nice treat at the end of the day.  And yes, that is my messy counter.

Happy autumn everybody.  I'm going to bed.

One to Go

After the last two days, I only have one recipe to go.  I think I might make a cookie or muffin tomorrow as a treat to celebrate 100, but I've got rehearsal in a little over an hour so I thought I would update the rest of my dishes first.

95 was a Wild Rice and Blueberry salad from Big Vegan.  I questioned the combination of celery and spring onion with fruit, but it was a winning combination that I ate leftover with lunch today.  I used balsamic fig dressing instead of balsamic raspberry, but it was still incredibly good.  Once again, I reduced the amount of oil called for in the recipe by about half, and I also used thawed frozen berries instead of fresh, as those are more reliably available most of the year.  It helps they keep longer, too.  I give this recipe an A.  Why haven't I tried wild rice before now?  I love it.  The toothsome quality to it is comfortingly chewy, and earthy taste is wonderful.

Next came a new favorite for 96, Orange Scented Broccoli from Appetite for Reduction.  Once again Isa has hit it out of the park.  I am incredibly happy to have found two recipes for eating broccoli this summer that I love; one raw, one sauteed, both using orange juice.  It is amazing to me how a little ginger, garlic, and soy sauce is useful in making so many vegetables tasty.  I plan on making this recipe again, and soon.  I would have made it tonight if I hadn't been so busy trying to rack up my numbers!  A+



I also finished making kim chee last night and tasted it on its own.  I found it too sour and hot for my tastes, however, I still have some left over and have a recipe in which it is used in small servings as a condiment.  At present I'd say the recipe (from Big Vegan) is a D or D-, but I can imagine the kick might be useful played against the other ingredients of Korean tacos so I might have to come back to this one.

98 and 99 made up a Mediterranean-type dinner tonight.  I made sauteed kale with white beans and Greek roasted potatoes with oregano and lemon.  Both recipes were from Donna Klein's Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen.  I ate them with some (burnt) stewed green beans and tomato from Italian Vegan Kitchen, a favorite from earlier this summer.  As far as the new recipes went, however, I don't think I will make them again.  The beans were bland and occasionally too sweet due to the sauteed onions within, and the potatoes, while not bad, were not good enough to displace any one of the many potato recipes I already like within my cooking canon.  D for the beans, C for the potatoes.

So there we are.  One to go.  I'm looking forward to consolidating all the numbers, making sense of what I did make this summer.  I plan on continuing to try new recipes as well.  I've learned so many new techniques and how to use and combine certain ingredients, I can't imagine giving all the trying up.  However, I'm still quite excited about remaking some food I haven't had the chance to fit in due to all the new things I've been cooking.  I'm also looking forward to having a more reliable source of leftovers.  With new recipes, I never knew if something would be horrible enough to throw out or so good I'd eat it all in one meal.  This threw a little havoc in my meal planning, particularly once my weeks got busier at the beginning of the new school year.  I'm also planning on spending a little more time developing my own recipes, like the spumoni cookies I've been toying with.

See you at 100!  Enjoy your last day of summer!

Sunday Eats

Last night I made it to 90 with home-made pita from Big Vegan and delicata squash from Appetite for Reduction.

I'll start with the squash; I only ate a few bites.  The Baker is out of town, and I have these squash from my CSA.  I don't really like squash (zucchini or summer squash in a soup or stew is all right as a minor player), and didn't have high hopes for the recipe because of that, but I had this squash to use up.  So, nothing lost here.  It had an interesting flavor profile, but the texture of squash and the slight sweetness always throws me off.  It was too mushy.  I will not fail it because I think a squash person would like it a lot, but for me, no.  D-

While the squash was cooking, I got the pita bread together.  The Baker and I went to a smashing Mediterranean restaurant called The Vine this week, and I discovered how much I like falafel.  It was a wonderful experience, too, as well as the rest of the food we tried.  The pita was also a standout.  It has been so long since I've been able to order something like this at a restaurant that was vegan; the falafel patty was tasty, and the texture was somewhere between a fish cake and a breaded chicken patty.  Wonder of wonders, the patty didn't fall apart in my mouth or hands like most of the veggie burgers I've tried out (or tried to make at home), and was also toothsome in an almost meaty way.  Now that I'm pretty much vegan, this is something I can't get very often unless I make it myself, and even so have not found a good, mostly whole-foods veggie burger recipe (TVP? no thanks) that works for me at home.

So I decided to recreate the experience at home.  Last night I made the pita bread, and ate one (I had to make sure it worked, right?).  The recipe was simple enough, though the dough was much wetter than I expected, and I had to add a bit more flour.  Additionally, the pitas I made were not as big as directions said they would be, and a couple I made didn't turn out so well because I flattened them so much they were too thin.  A couple were just right, and puffy in exactly the perfect pita way.  I say B+, but they may move to an A- after user error is corrected.

They were not as good at those in the restaurant, but better than store bought.  The taste was nice, but reminiscent of the quick french breads I make.  I put 7 of them in a bag for later.

For #91, I decided to make falafel to eat with my pita for lunch.  I found two recipes, but decided to make that of Appetite for Reduction which is a baked patty instead of fried.  It was simple to put together, and one could probably even make it by hand if the garlic and onion were chopped into tiny bits  I was not reading carefully enough, and made 4 patties instead of more, smaller, patties.  I also cooked them on the Baker's baking stone.  Man, they were good.  I'm going to see how well the other three patties I made keep in the fridge and eat one with another leftover pita for lunch.  I would like to have a little bit of tamarind barbecue sauce and a handful of greens to make a complete sandwich, but I wanted to try the patties naked today to see how the recipe worked on its own.

Even though they were larger than the recipe called for, the patties held together well, though they were a touch less toothsome than the restaurant (fried) ones.  That's okay.  I call this a resounding success.  #91 is an A+.

I decided to make use of some really cheap green beans and further this past week's Thai theme and make #92 Thai green beans from Appetite for Reduction.  I had to deglaze the pan a few times with broth, and I think that I would like the beans a touch less crisp... maybe deglaze one more time and cook two more minutes?  The Thai basil was a nice touch, and Isa was right, they were lent a licorice taste by the basil.  With 60 calories and one of my favorite veggies, it couldn't go too wrong.  However, due to those other, personal taste issues, I'd rate this a B.  It was a fine dish, but lacking a little something that my walnut sauce green beans and my stewed green beans with tomatoes have.  Since green beans are cheap, however, and plentiful (and such a favorite)  I can imagine this recipe sneaking into my repetoire every couple of months or so, especially once fresh tomatoes are in short supply and will make the stewed green bean with tomato recipe more problematic.

For #93 and #94, I made another hit from Big Vegan.  I had to make  pomegranate molasses to make the dressing for the Pomegranate Tabbouleh with Pistachios, but I had a lot of aging parsley to make use of, so I decided it would be a good fit.  I took a little liberty with the directions; I minced the ingredients of the dressing small instead of making a paste of them in the food processor, and I cut down on the oil, something I almost always do these days.  It's funny how well recipes still work with 1/3 to 1/2 less oil as long as you keep an eye out for burning and occasionally use stock to deglaze the pan.  Anyway, both the molasses and the tabbouleh were good and I will probably make them again at some point.  I might even make it in the food processor next time, though I really liked the chunkier texture the non-pasty dressing added.  A for the molasses (I can't wait to find new ways to use this!) and B for the tabbouleh.

The Home Stretch

I'm trying to get as many of the 100 done before the weekend is over, and there are a few I've done so far this week, so I decided to blog them out of the way before I went much further.

Now that I have rehearsal 3 nights a week, I don't have as much time for cooking, but I still managed to get several accomplished this week.  It started out as a Thai inspired week, as 84 and 85 came from Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott.  Because I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to make yellow curry paste, and using that, make yellow pineapple and pea curry.  The paste smelled flavorful and I could not wait to eat my curry, however the curry itself, with two kinds of peas, pineapple, tofu, and potato, was disappointing.  Other than being to hot for my palate, there really wasn't much else of a flavor to the dish.  It was hot with an aftertaste of incredibly bland.  The Baker liked, but did not love, the dish.  I'm going to use the curry paste for another dish or two before I pronounce it a lost cause, but the curry combination itself was a no go.  C for the paste, D+ for the curry.  It was edible, but I did not want to eat the leftovers.

Next came another Thai-inspired recipe, something quick, easy, and I was certain I would at least somewhat enjoy.  My love of Brussels sprouts meant that Thai garlicky Brussels sprouts met with success for both myself and the Baker.  We both assessed that they were good without being our favorite Brussels sprouts recipe.  Garlic and sprouts is a pretty good combination, and in this recipe, they have an added touch of Asian flair in the sauce.  One thing I don't like about the recipe is that it calls for a "vegetarian stir fry sauce" so there is no option to make the recipe entirely from scratch.  In a pinch, I don't mind using bottled sauces (I used a Trader "Ming's" sauce here which worked well) but I would rather have a sauce recipe from scratch with an option in the recipe to replace it with a bought sauce.  I give #86 an A-.

I went back to Big Vegan next.  This book is really capturing my heart.  It relies on whole food ingredients, does use some of the more unusual ingredients without going overboard, so I feel like I'm stretching myself without being overwhelmed.  Most of the recipes also feel simple, though I could imagine they might be overwhelming a touch for a novice cook.  This is also a rather large compendium, much like 500 Vegan Recipes or 1000 Vegan Recipes, and it covers a variety of basics, but it doesn't spend too much time or space re-making a lot of the basic vegan dishes there are dozens of recipes for everywhere.  Yes, there are some of those the authors offer their spin on, but a greater percentage is offering recipes that seem like they should be vegan standbys already.

Chilled cantaloupe soup with almonds was one of those recipes.  It was simple enough; cubed melon, blender, a little liquid.  I think the whole thing had about 5 ingredients.  Although I love cantaloupe, the toasted almonds and orange zest really added extra depth to the taste of the melon.  I will likely make this again; it seemed like a great soup for a warm summer day if you're feeling a little bored with plain cantaloupe.  #87 gets an A.

My search for the lentil soup came to an end with the French lentil and potato soup from Big Vegan.  I added a little liquid smoke, and will probably double the garlic next time, but this was quite a tasty lentil soup.  It really wasn't too different; very similar to the split pea soup I make but with thyme and lentils instead of split peas.  I guess it's the simplicity that really works.  I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers today, as the flavors are probably even more melded now.  All this is proof of success, unless I suppose I reheat and find it disgusting leftover.  This #88, since it still needed a few adjustments, gets an A-.

The lentil soup search is getting disheartening... but we're not there yet.  There are plenty of recipes to review before I get there!

Breakfast yesterday was overnight slow cooker farratto from a new cookbook, Big Vegan by Robin Asbell and Kate Sears.  It contained a mixture of faro and oats, cooked in apple juice and cinnamon with apricots.  I like oatmeal and all the fiber and such therewith, but sometimes the creamy oatmeal texture needs a little shaking up.  This grainy dish was a tasty breakfast with an interesting texture, and I think will be even better with a little soy yogurt or heated almond milk for the leftovers.  This #77 was an A-.  It needed a touch more liquid and soaking the crusty edges off the crock pot took most of the day.

We had friends over for pizza last night.  I had a lovely vegan pizza, with garlic olive oil and sea salt and rosemary on top.  I baked it for a while, then brushed on some pizza sauce.  It's not exactly fontina and feta, but then again, no animals were harmed in the process.  I think the garlic needed to be notched up a bit, but it was lovely. 

For a starter, I made a new recipe from Big Vegan. Beet and apple slaw, though it had more oil than I usually like to use even after I cut down a bit, was an interesting new way to use up the beets that have been filling our CSA.  One medium beet went a long way, and the slaw was tangy and slightly sweet.  The apple taste was barely perceptible.  The Baker liked it a lot.  I was hoping that the apple would be a stronger taste in the whole, and give it a B+.  It was almost too savory for me.

#79 was a cheescake dip with fruit skewers from Peas and Thank You.  I am not certain the cheesecake dip title is descriptive enough; the dip itself is a bit more than half blended kiwis.  The dip itself, even though I accidentally dropped more ginger in it than the recipe called for, was quite good.  I'd probably just call it ginger-kiwi cream cheese dip instead, or something of the sort.  I dipped in a variety of pineapple, grapes, and strawberries, though melon would probably have been lovely as well.  It was easy to make, and the most time consuming part was peeling all the kiwis.  I loved it, and the Baker liked it a lot too.  I give it an A.

I made it to the fantastic #80 this morning.  I've been on quite the smoothie kick lately, and was excited to try another kind of smoothie.  It isn't as if I don't still love the cherry chocolate almond and blackberry basil, but it is nice to branch out and get some variety.  I made a strawberry banana blender smoothie from Big Vegan.  Other than not having any greens in it (which I might add a quarter cup next time for some added nutrition) and having a bit of a gritty texture due to the added oatmeal, it was lovely.  It had no added sweetener, but the sweetness was just right and the color was such a lovely pink.

Last week was a bear, between school lunches and play rehearsals to attend quickly after work.  I often ran out of the house with not enough lunch, and had a second smoothie for a quick but not lasting enough dinner.  My plan this week had been to cook a great deal more in order to not only get closer to #100, but also so that I have plenty of leftovers for this work week.  I cooked a variety of things today, both old and new.

After my breakfast, I cut up a baguette and put a light amount of garlic olive oil and herb mixture to make crostini.  Now that I don't eat parmesan any more, these are a lovely addition to eat with my Italian-inspired soups.  While this was baking, I put together a disappointing cornbread from Peas and Thank You.  Cowgirl cornbread was not bad, but it was not very interesting.  I usually veganize the additions required for Trader Joe's cornbread, and I find that excellent, but I have yet to come close with any from scratch recipe sadly.  This just did not have any complexity of flavor.  It might work really well as cornbread croutons for adding to chili or some such, especially with the right herbs.  #81 gets a C-.

#82 was a cookie I've been meaning to make for a while.  Who says only kids can have a little desert with lunch?  I miss the old days of my little Debbie snack cakes just a touch, even though Mom almost always made me choose between oatmeal cream pies and fudge rounds, when I preferred the brownies or the nutty bars.  This cookie, the applesauce softie, is one of the healthiest overall cookies in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  I thought a couple of these low oil, low sugar, whole wheat pastry flour cookies in my lunch would add a nice little happy ending without fattening up my lunch too much.  I'm happy to say they turned out well, which is par for the course with this book.  They aren't overly sweet, just a nice spicy touch.  I think next time I will try one of the variations, though, and add raisins or walnuts for a little something extra.  They're a good solid cookie, though nothing I would die for and dream over.  B+

For dinner tonight and for lunches tomorrow, I have once again made an attempt to find that perfect lentil soup.  This time I thought I might find it in the escarole and lentil soup in Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein.  Most of the recipes I've made by her so far have been just excellent, though there have been a couple of soups that weren't too great.  Sadly to say, this was one of them.  It lacked any sort of punch, and I added a couple of large pinches of a few of my favorite spices at the end after noticing its' lack of vim and vigor.  I've read some reviews that said it was better the next day, and I hope so; I'm going to pack it for lunch tomorrow.  #83 gets a C- so far, but who knows, it might upgrade to a C tomorrow.

I might just make it to 100 by autumn equinox yet.  Ten more cooking days, 17 more recipes to go.  If I cook dinner Tuesday night, a night I have more time, and go through a goodly amount of recipes next weekend, and maybe dry another couple new smoothies or morning porridge, I might make it after all.

Soup and Philosophy

This is Annie.  We had an interesting weekend.

I have become fairly competent at soup-making. Some, the Baker included, might say skilled. I love soups for all the reasons I've mentioned before; they are easy to store and reheat for quick meals, many are incredibly nutritious, and there are also some veggies I won't eat anywhere else but will in soup. Still, with skill comes a certain level of choosiness. More plainly stated, to make it into my regular rotation a soup has to be so good that I look forward to eating the leftovers.

I have been on the quest for an excellent lentil soup for a while. I have an excellent split pea, minnestrone, ribollita, and two varieties of tomato soup as well as a couple nice tomato-based veggie soups. These soups cover a lot of bases, but one of my goals has been to get lentils into my meal rotation a little more often, hence the search for a lentil soup. I've made a couple from Isa Chandra Moskowitz, I've made some from Robin Robertson, and now I have made one by Mama Pea. I am sad to say I am still on my search.

The lemon lentil soup from Peas and Thank You was by no means bad. There have been a few soups (and other recipes too) when I have decided that I didn't like what I was eating enough to finish it at all, and this was not one of those recipes. I ate a whole bowl of the red lentil and chock-full-of carrots soup, but when I finished it, I didn't want to ladle more into my bowl, nor did I want to take the effort to pack it into the fridge, where it would have likely sat until I decided to throw it out. It was a competent, if a bit plain, soup, but nothing that would help me make it through my morning by allowing me to dream about my lovely lunch. It was a little too bland, but I could imagine it might be good for finicky kids who might not like strong tastes. I give this #70 a C+.

For morning snack today (and probably for snacks for the rest of the week as well) I kept with Mama Pea and made use of some ripe bananas and baked up some banana chocolate chip millet muffins. They're pretty good. They're sweet without being overly so, the texture is a little grainy from the millet, which I liked a lot. I didn't like the banana slices on top, however. The mushy texture was a bit of a turn off. Still, leaving off the banana slices would be incredibly simple. I think I still like banana bread better.

For #72, I decided to try escarole, something that I'd been thinking about for a while. I used a recipe from Appetite for Reduction to add a little punch to some of the green while wilting it on the stove. The flavor profile was all right, but the red pepper flakes were a little to hot for me. I know, I'm a spice wimp. I might try this dish without the pepper. Then again, the flavor profile, even without considering the heat, did not knock my socks off, it was just okay. You know me, I much prefer the savory I eat with a touch of sweet. The lemon wedge was not enough to temper this for me. C+.

Perhaps it is cheating, but 73 and 74 are two kinds of kale chips from Vegan Family Meals by Ann Gentry. I made the basic chips and the garlic sesame chips. I overcooked them a touch, but gosh darn it, they are quite yummy, both flavors, although the garlic sesame only tastes a touch different than the regular (a hint of soy and a little saltier). These will definitely be made again! And if there is adjustment for user error (since I left them in too long) this is an A-.

75 was a wonderful addition from 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East.  Curried (Indian) potatoes were a lovely side to my Italian green beans.  The dinner hit the spot after a long tough day.  Annie, my 18 month old dog, got injured and required stitches this weekend.  This means that she's been a little tough to deal with, especially yesterday after breaking her e-collar.  I couldn't leave her home and allow her to chew on her bandage, I couldn't take her in the car since she decided she needed to ride standing on my lap (restricting my access to not only the steering wheel but my vision).  We walked to the pet store, which secured a better afternoon for me, but it also required a good meal to uplift my body and spirits.  I give the curried potatoes an A+.  They were simpler to make than I expected, and the only down side is that they turned my nails yellow with turmeric.
76 was a quick dinner tonight, a breakfast recipe that I found simple and comforting. Quick oats with quinoa flakes, a combination I would not have thought of on my own, came from Vegan Family Meals.  Not a tough meal to make, and also quite comforting in its own warm and creamy way.  The touch of cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup (as well as the warm almond milk) was quite the comfort food.  In my college days I used to make oatmeal for dinner more than once, and if it stays cooler, I might be able to do this more often on busy nights-or mornings, y'know, to be all traditional about it.  I give it an A.

#66 and counting

The first two weeks of school have been brutal! Mostly, my feet are achy because I'm not used to standing long days as I usually do, and I'm not getting enough sleep yet because I'm getting up earlier but still staying up later like I did over the summer. I'll adjust before you know it, but the adjusting isn't much fun.

I've also had to fit in auditions and orientations and meetings at the later end of the day, so I haven't had as much time to cook as I usually do. I have still had enough time to try some new recipes, just not as many as quickly. Amongst these newbies, there have been some great results.

I have made more "recipeas" from Sarah Matheny's book. I am ready to give my seal of approval for chewy energy bars. I replaced the raisins for dried cherries, and kept the chocolate chips. I enjoyed them, and the Baker kept sneaking them when I was out of the house. The mostly oat and whole wheat pastry flour base stuck together better than I thought it would. It doesn't beat my Luna bars in taste or calorie count (I had to halve the serving to make sure it didn't overshoot my calorie allotment for a snack), but it was still a whole-foods whole grain option without added oils. I give them a B, but I think the Baker would give an A-.

Also from Peas and Thank You was one third of my very colorful and tasty lunch last Sunday. Spanish style quinoa was incredibly simple to make, and tasty, though not overly complex in flavor. It was a good, solid dish that will make it into my regular rotation. A- for the supergrain.

Along with my quinoa and watermelon, I decided I needed something leafy, dark, and green. What better than one of my favorite veggies, Brussels sprouts? I had been meaning to make Isa's shaved Brussels sprouts from Appetite for Reduction for a while now, and it definitely didn't disappoint. How can you go wrong with onion, sprouts, garlic salt and pepper in a cast iron pan? They were lovely, somewhat crispy, and perfect. A+.


Number 69 was part of my dinner on Wednesday night (and the Baker's on Wednesday and Thursday nights). I made another of Isa's AFR recipes, mango bbq baked beans. The sauce was not overly fruity, although I think it needed another savory note in it, but other than that, it was a lovely dish. I'm not usually a kidney bean fan, but it worked rather well with the sauce. The Baker hates baked beans, and he keeps eating the leftovers. I give it an A-, but perhaps the allspice the recipe has but I did not have in the pantry will give it that last note that it needs.

I've got grand plans to make it to 75 this holiday weekend. I've got to start having lots of little tupperwares ready for school lunches and quick dinners before rehearsals. I got a part in Noises Off which is just about a dream come true. I have been in love with this play since I was about 15 and saw the movie version, and thank my lucky stars that I am going to get to play a role in it. It's incredibly exciting, but it also means I will have to eat on the run 3 nights a week for the time being. This means a lot of weekend prep and weekday reheating. Not that I mind! I often find it easier to shave a couple of pounds when I'm this busy, because when I have to plan ahead so much, I plan ahead healthy and I have less options for deviating than in the summer when I'm home half the day with time to snack and bake cookies.

#57-65

I finally made the bread from Urban Pantry. I did put it together Friday night, and baked it on Saturday. It is a whole wheat and barley mix, all whole grains. I was expecting a bread that would need an axe to cut, or something that would need to be dunked in a gallon of liquid to deal with the dryness. However, this was an incredibly soft and moist loaf of whole grain bread, very much like sandwich bread in that sense, but also a little bland-tasting. To me it didn't feel like a loaf for eating just to enjoy the bread. I give this one a B.


After baking the bread, I also made two different recipes for roasted flavored chickpeas from Peas and Thank You. The pumpkin spice ones were hard not to eat all by myself as a snack as soon as they cooled off. I will enjoy adding these to salads, or just chewing on them alone. They are sweet and spicy and delicious. The lemon-rosemary were not quite as good, but it could be because the flavor is much stronger; these will work better as a topping than on their own and I think might make an interesting addition to an Italian-inspired pasta type dish. The pumpkin spice chickpeas (#58 for you all out there counting) are an A+, the lemon rosemary (59) a B+.

For dinner on Friday and the momentous number 60, I cracked open 30 Minute Vegan Taste of the East again and made the tofu variation of Peking seitan (or Daffy's relief). The sauce was amazing, though I think I may dry bake the tofu before adding it to the dish when I make it again, or I will try the seitan variation, or use the sauce with beans and greens. I'd give this one a solid B+.


We had friends over for dinner on Saturday, home-made pizza, limeade, broccoli salad, and for desert, another new recipe from Peas and Thank You, the almond joy cookie bars. You may notice from the picture that they are in rather abstract shaped bars instead of little rectangles or squares. I must confess, I couldn't wait long enough to take the cookies out of the pan and they broke apart because they were still a bit too warm. My fault! Or perhaps I should blame Sarah Matheny, since the cookie bars were just too awesome. I adore the cookie, chocolate, and coconut combination, and even my company, who confessed he usually doesn't like coconut, couldn't stop taking seconds and thirds. I give this one an A+.



For number 62, I made another East inspired dish. This time it was Japanese-style roasted vegetables. The recipe recommended a tomato, a zucchini, and some baby bok choy, but I had a lot of baby bok choy just waiting for some love. The marinade was slightly spicy and tangy, but it had an odd aftertaste. It was an edible and healthy lunch (as usual, I used about half or less of the recommended oil), but I don't think that I will use this recipe again. This was a C.

For numbers 63, 64, and 65, I made a rather involved recipe for Potato and Chickpea Enchilada Casserole out of Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan. It involved making tomatillo sauce (not salsa) as well as pine nut crema to melt on the top of the assembled enchiladas with their filling. It looked beautiful, and it took a lot of effort to get it that way. However, both the Baker and I felt it was lacking something. I wanted a little more chewy-ness to the filling, the Baker said the texture was okay, but that he thought the filling was on the right track, just was a little bland. He gave it a B-, I'm more of a C with this one. Both he and I rated the tomatillo sauce highly (A-), and will definitely make and use that again. The crema was a little off in texture, though I think I glopped it on just a little too thickly and it didn't get the chance to brown properly most of the way through.


Now that school has started, it is likely I will slow down a bit on the new recipes, especially since I've got tons of auditions this weekend. Who knows what opportunities they might bring!

Procrastination

I meant to make the whole wheat bread from Amy Pennington's Urban Pantry on Monday night. And on Tuesday night. And Wednesday night. And last night. I meant to let it rise in the fridge over night, and rise a second time in the morning, bake it and use it to make skinny Elvis sandwiches from Peas and Thank You, a lovely concoction of strawberries with a new take on Elvis' peanut butter and bananas in a sandwich.

Yet as each night wore on, I cleaned up after the messes of dinner and settled in to my evenings. As it got later, my commitment to mixing the bread dough together waned. I went to bed each night without making the bread, but since my strawberries were headed south, I needed to use them. So I used a corn tortilla instead. This made the sandwiches a little dry, but they were yummy nonetheless. I can imagine the sandwich filling being much more satisfying on a moister slice of bread cut in half and folded over.

Instead of 56 and 57, this only makes 56.

Perhaps I will put the bread together tonight?

#51-55

I've been cooking a bit this fortnight, and two cookbooks are to thank, for the most part. If you have not, I recommend picking up 30 Minute Vegan Taste of the East by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray, as well as Peas and Thank You by Sarah Matheny. Both have inspired me to try new combinations and new ingredients.

Dinner on Sunday, #51, was teriyaki tofu from 30 Minute Vegan Taste of the East. It was a dinner for one on Sunday since the Baker had to work late. This recipe was another success! The teriyaki was quite tasty, and though I pressed and baked the tofu a little before putting the sauce on, a step the recipe did not call for, the end product was quite tasty.

I was making this recipe when I wondered how often I actually make a recipe directly to recipe. I prefer to do that the first time through a recipe most often because I want to know what I'm operating with before I change anything, however, there are a lot of times when I add extra garlic because I know I would appreciate more, or transplant canned for fresh or fresh for canned (beans/tomatoes/etc.), or cut down on red pepper or some such to lessen the spicy bite for my tender palate. I know myself and the flavors of a number of major components of my cooking well enough that I can tell when I'd appreciate a change. All that being said, though, I probably make something to recipe the first time about 40% of the time. Or maybe 35%.

In this case, I will definitely make this teriyaki sauce again, and I will likely add it to tofu some of those times. I can imagine having this sauce on hand for a quick dinner of rice and beans and some greens thrown in. Another thing that really worked for me was the mere teaspoon of oil in the sauce and preparation. The amount of sauce for the amount of tofu, however, was a touch excessive.

Breakfast for the last two days has been my 52nd recipe, the chocolate cherry almond smoothie from Peas and Thank You. A mixture of frozen cherries, non-dairy milk, chocolate powder, and a few other items has stolen my summer breakfasty heart. I am usually an oatmeal kind of a girl, but sometimes during the summer (and record long heat waves) you just don't want a breakfast that steams. At her recommended serving size, it isn't big enough for my entire breakfast, but I'm thinking of combining it with her breakfast oatmeal bars or one of my very own whole wheat banana muffins. With that there may be just enough fiber to last me to lunch. You know, next week when school starts and I have to worry about that kind of thing again. I'd call this sweet but healthy and calcium-filled treat an A.

I made the blackberry basil smoothie from Peas and Thank You to have with my lunch. It too was good, but I did not like the basil/blackberry combination as much as I liked the cherry/almond/chocolate. It does not mean I will not make it again, however, and I think that I will also make it with strawberries instead of blackberries from time to time, and maybe switch out the basil for mint and blackberries. Overall, a solid recipe. A-

The jury is still out on the Ligurian basil pesto from Vegan Italiano. We got a ton of basil in the share this week, so we decided it was pesto time! We didn't have fresh parsley on hand, so we switched some out with baby spinach. We are saving the pesto for pizza night this week, so I can't tell you how it is yet- I will update!

Finally, my success with the Asian food in another book (and a trip to ye olde Global Foods) inspired me to try an Indian-inspired recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. It uses a chickpea noodle called "sev" that are crunchy and remind me of chow mein noodles as well as cooked chickpeas in a spicy tomato sauce.


I halved the pepper in the recipe, but still ended up with a very fire-kissed mouth. I think it was tasty, but my taste buds might have been just a touch too burnt out to tell. I do know, however, I'd like it to be a touch "saucier." It felt dry to me, but I do know I enjoyed the crunch of the texture. The crunchy noodles gave it a little bite, on the tooth level, that I enjoyed. If I make it again, I would add a little more broth and tomato, maybe a little soy sauce(yes, I know, not incredibly authentic) or tamarind concentrate, and a little less pepper. Serving it on a bed of steamed greens might be nice as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if I made it to 60 before the start of school on Monday! I have truly enjoyed reading and cooking along with Sarah and her "peas" this week, and trying new Asian-inspired dishes. Sometimes it takes a new point of view or a new cuisine to break me out of a rut, and I have found them both!

Summer Lunch, #49 and 50

I had planned to make tomato rasam and chapati or roti, but with a lot of leftover bread from dinner last night and knowing we're having home-made pizza tonight, I decided on a somewhat lighter lunch. I still made the tomato rasam, and along with it drank some refreshing limeade with real brown sugar.

The rasam, a slightly spicy (which for me is pretty spicy) soup from The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray is pretty awesome. It is only the second recipe I've made from that book, and the first, a potato and spinach recipe that I was hoping would approximate the same dish I love at Saffron, was an utter failure. I couldn't eat more than a couple of bites. This was much different. I used canned tomato instead of fresh (mine moulded on the counter last night!) and I'd recommend waiting for the soup to cool about 10 minutes before eating, but it was amazing, if a touch spicy for me. The second bowl tasted better to me than the first, and after my second bowl I kept eating extra spoonfuls from the pot! Next time I make it, I think I will lessen the mustard seeds a touch as well, and maybe add the cilantro at the end, since I didn't have any on hand today. I'd give it an A. Some wilted spinach might make a good addition, too.

Cooling down my sensitive taste buds was a real brown sugar limeade from the drinks chapter in Viva Vegan. It uses a pure brown sugar called panela to make the syrup, along with 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice. I added about 25% more water than the recipe stated, and once I weakened it that bit, it was lovely. How refreshing and summery!

So here it is! I have made it to 50 new recipes this summer! I still plan on trying to hit 100, even if it lands me late in fall. When I do reach 100 I will celebrate with a run down post explaining what I liked most, least, and what has become a regular part of my cooking. Maybe I can at some point start posting original recipes too, eh?

#47-48

I feel like such a slacker only posting 2 recipes in the last ten days, but as I was remarking to the Baker, I've cooked myself one or two meals from scratch every day... it's just that I've liked so many recipes so far I keep making favorites that are in season. That, and last weekend Annie ended its' run, which marked me out for the count for most of the Friday-Sunday period. I also had to teach Saturday morning, and with the matinee and strike set on Sunday (and a party!) I was hardly at home for the greater part of three days.

For dinner last Thursday (before a brush up rehearsal) I made roasted cherry tomato and basil sauce to go on my whole wheat rotini from Vegan Italiano. It was pretty good, although I think the pasta to topping ratio was a little off. The way I made it (per recipe) I think was more of a B, but with a few more cherry tomatoes and an ounce less pasta, and maybe a sprinkling of breadcrumbs fried in garlic-olive oil or toasted walnut bits for a little more crunch on top I think would make this an A dish.

For dinner tonight, I'm having an old standby now, green beans and tomato, along with Scarlet Barley from Appetite for Reduction. Now, there are times when I make recipes because I want to make something of an ingredient I already love (brussels sprouts, for example), and there are times when I make something new because there is a particular vitamin or nutrient it is rich in and I'd like to make it a part of my diet. This is a recipe I made because I had a bunch of beets leftover from my CSA share.

I don't particularly like beets, I don't particularly dislike them. This recipe was pretty much the same way. I loved the texture of the barley-so chewy. I'd like to cook barley again this way with a veggie I'm more positive about. Maybe shredded parsnip, cinnamon, and apple? Or a carrot cake version with coconut, walnut, shredded carrot and a little raisin. I might also prefer a little orange juice in the mix of this recipe to the lemon juice. Yes, there go my sweet over savory preferences again. I'd call it a C+. If I liked beets more, this would rate much higher. The Baker says B-, since he likes beets more than I.

My plan for tomorrow is an Indian inspired lunch, tomato rasam and some chapati or roti. Here come 49 and 50!

#33-46

Last week was tech week and opening for Annie. I brought baked treats Sunday through Thursday, so my week was mainly centered around rehearsing and baking. I spent the rest of my days trying to sleep. I thought, however, bringing baked treats would be one way for me to add to my new recipe count without me being the one who ate most of the treats, or having to live off of leftovers for days and not getting to make anything else new. I was right, but by Thursday I was very tired of trying to come up with more new recipes that didn't require too many steps and were nut free (one of our orphans has an allergy, so I usually made at least one nut free treat a day, if not two). I also cooked a couple of things for myself as well.
I started with some basic yeasted bread from 1000 Vegan Recipes. I have cooked far too little from this book so far, possibly because of the overwhelming quality of having so many recipes. It's hard to decide what to start with. I make my own croutons, and it's cheaper to start by making your own bread instead of buying it, so I thought I'd start by making this bread. It was all right, it rose very well and had a nice bland taste that would work well with sandwiches if you don't want to distract from the filling. It had a short-ish rising time, so the taste wasn't incredibly complex. B
Next came a new green bean recipe. Green beans may be replacing Brussels sprouts as my favorite food. They are so versatile! I made green beans with tomato from Vegan Italiano. It is becoming one of my favorite books. The recipes are so simple and tasty, and this is no different. Basically all it is is beans, tomato, garlic, and a touch of oregano. Add a little broth so that it can braise over about an hour and glorious! A+

Now on to the goodies! I started with Veganomicon and 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by making chocolate raspberry cookies, and blueberry muffins, respectively. Both got good reviews from my eaters, but the raves came for the cookies predominantly. The cookies were so good I had to eat more than 2 before bagging them up and taking them along. The muffins were good, but not excellent. The texture was just right, but there was something about them I'd like to tweak a bit. A and B.
The next day, I made chocolate cherry oatmeal cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. These were another smash hit I had a hard time not eating too many of. The chocolate cookies with chocolate chips and cherries had just a bit more gravitas with the oatmeal, which also helped them not be overpowered by sweetness. A+.
I'm not sure if I made them this day, but some time over the week I also made tahini chocolate chip cookies from 500 Vegan Recipes. They weren't bad, but they were the cookies that had the most left over of any baked treat I made last week with a cast with 10 kids in it; that should say something.

#39-42 lasted me a couple of days. I made 2 dozen basic golden cupcakes and 1 dozen chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World on Wednesday, as well as basic vanilla buttercream frosting, and made the cookies and cream variation after frosting one dozen cupcakes. I also made chocolate mousse to frost a dozen as well. I had leftover frosting, and in the end, made 2 more dozen chocolate cupcakes for Thursday. I ended up with a dozen basic golden cupcakes with chocolate mousse and a macerated strawberry slice on top, one dozen golden cupcakes filled with a couple macerated strawberries, a little buttercream, and buttercream and a slice of strawberry on top, and 3 dozen chocolate cupcakes with cookies and cream buttercream. I would be downplaying the compliments I got if I described them as "glowing" or "effusive." People loved these cupcakes. The chocolate mousse was the only down side; it was not bad, it just needed some work. It needed a little extra fat to allow it to be a little less solid and a little more malleable. I learned some new skills while making these (double boilers!), and was incredibly proud of how well they turned out. A or A+ for all but the mousse, B- for the mousse.

I also made a double batch of tofu brownies this week, and they turned out much better than the last batch. I took them out of the oven before they got too dry and they were awesome!
After all this baking I decided to cook a few things for dinner. I made a dried fruit pilaf and roasted green beans from Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. Both were incredibly simple, but incredibly good. The pilaf was an A, and will be making it into my lunch rotation when school starts again. How can you argue with whole grain, figs and apricots? Unless you are gluten intolerant, that is, and in that case, replace the bulgar with millet or something! The green beans were crispy and tasty as well, with that lovely extra touch of toasty almond slivers on top. Donna Klein is quickly becoming my favorite cook book author, as her recipes are often filled with simple, whole foods that pack a tasty punch. Of course, the fact that I love Italian/Mediterranean food does help, since those are the foci of her books. The green beans were an A-. They were simple and tasty, but needed a little extra something. The flavors needed a touch more depth.
Monday night I broke out the Veganomicon once again, I found a good, reliable, simple soup. This soup was not quite as good as the Tomato Basil soup, but was easy to make and solid. The Baker even pronounced it "meaty." Said it smelled a little like sausage. Perhaps it was the onions, thyme and marjoram? The brown rice and beans also add some more fiber and texture.

Because the Baker did like it so much (he's eaten it leftover. Twice. That really is a recommendation, or he's feeling extra lazy this week!) I will probably make it again. And it is good. But the tomato-ness of the soup was a little overpowering to the point of-yes, I will say it-cloying. There are other tomato-based soups I like better, that have just that extra kick. This feels like their less interesting, but still nice, little sister. B

And today's slow-cooked collards from 1000 Vegan Recipes makes 46. These were okay, but they weren't something good enough for me to make again. I prefer my greens with a touch of fruit to sweeten them, and this was mostly savory. Then again, if I double the garlic, this could make the grade. I am not sure I am curious enough to try, but if you like ribbons of tender collards in a smoky vegan broth, this is the recipe for you.

So this was the past week and some change for me! The flurry of baking and cooking (as well as tech week, of course) has left me a little exhausted. I am hoping to make 50 by the end of next week, though. I just keep getting distracted by fresh fruit and salads. Mmmm... cherries.

#29-32

I've been falling behind considerably on my summer challenge. Part of the problem is that it's been close to 100 degrees for the last week here in the midwest, and I rarely feel like turning on the oven too much. I want to bake fairly badly, but turning on the oven seems counterproductive.

Another bar to cooking too many new recipes has been that I have fallen in love with several of the recipes I have already learned this summer. I have remade Tuscan Bread Soup 2 more times- whenever the CSA box has come in with fresh basil and tomatoes. I have loved a number of the soups I have made this summer. I have gorged myself on fresh fruit, including balsamic strawberries. Also, Annie is winding down. Tech week starts Sunday, so the show has been taking up a little more of my time. I also have developed one of my own recipes for a broccoli and cauliflower salad that I have been eating a great deal of. And occasionally, I have to let the Baker cook, too!

Despite that, over the past few weeks I have made 4 new recipes. After getting some fresh cilantro from the CSA box, I decided it was begging for some tomatillo salsa from Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero. it was so simple to make, and I learned how to operate my broiler as well. The salsa itself was very tasty, A+. I will use this recipe again, though probably not as much as the green sauce made with tomatillos in the same chapter that I made last summer. In order to keep our waistlines down, the Baker and I pledged not to buy ice cream or chips for home some time last summer, though we can have them when we are out to eat. The consistency of the salsa would be best for chips, whereas the sauce would have worked better on the burrito concoction I was attempting to make.

I also made the "white" seitan from the same book. Are there any experienced seitan makers out there? I think I overcooked it. So far my seitan experiences have not been incredible. I've made overly dry and overly wet seitan, neither of which was bad in taste, but not good in texture. I can only imagine there is a certain amount of user error and experience I need to develop to figure out how to best make good seitan. Considering the whole package, it was a B, and it reminded me of overcooked turkey.

Next up comes some more PPK food, but this time I have to rave. The Creamy Tomato Soup from Veganomicon knocked my socks off. It utilizes potatoes in order to give it that creamy texture, and I was concerned the texture of the soup would not resemble creaminess, but rather starchiness. I was wrong. It was pitch-perfect, though I think I will add spinach or kale from time to time to dress it up a little more. A++

Also from Veganomicon was the roasted potatoes I made for lunch today. Yes, I know I could have made roasted potatoes without a recipe, but I used this for reference, and I hadn't used the recipe before, so it counts, right? I tossed them in olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt, and had them with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with garlic olive oil and sea salt. It was a lovely lunch, and I say that the roasted potatoes will probably replace my occasional trip out for fast food French fries. These were close enough in taste, cheaper, and probably better for me. Besides, no place that I've been yet serves rosemary baked fries.

I may not finish my 100 recipes before Labor Day, as planned, but I will keep cooking any way. Summer ends September 21st, right? Maybe I'll make it by then. Maybe it will become a fall challenge. As long as I keep trying new recipes I don't care.

Does the fun ever stop? Recipes 24-28

Before leaving town, I made a few more recipes to try and up my numbers. I made a lovely Latin baked tofu from Viva Vegan for dinner Monday night (I think!) that both hubby and I loved. He liked it better than the orange mojo tofu, though I still preferred the orange mojo. It doesn't matter either way, both are scrumptious. Definitely will make again!
I also made a lovely dinner on Wednesday with fresh basil and tomatoes from the CSA share. Tuscan bread and tomato soup from Italian Vegan Kitchenwas easy to make, and very tasty, though it is more of a porridge than a soup. I actually have a picture of this, but it's kinda strange looking. It wasn't strange looking when I cooked it, honest. I must not be that good at food photography yet. Still, I'd call it a keeper. A+
Another quick recipe from the same book was a baked potato with bay leaf. I know, I know, hardly a complicated recipe, right? I cut a potato in half, put a little olive oil and bay leaf and salt in, and cooked it in the oven. I admit that I may have chosen this recipe in order to bump my numbers up a little bit without adding a lot of extra work or extra leftovers, but I really did like the idea of a baked potato cooked this way as well. I have been a little at a loss as whether I'd like baked potatoes any more without my sour cream, and thought that this would be an option worth trying.
The baked potato was good, and I might make one like this in the future at some point, especially since it is so easy and I almost always have bay leaves and potatoes on hand. However, it wasn't so amazing that I couldn't wait to eat another one. I'd call it an A-.
Although I almost forgot about them, I also made two new recipes from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar before leaving town last week. Wednesday I made the basic chocolate chip cookies, which were good, and soft. The only thing I have to hold against them is that they were not the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. I'm not saying this to knock them, I enjoyed them. However, they don't beat Otis Spunkmeyer (other than in Vegan Cred) and they don't beat the Baker's new veganized chocolate chip cookie which I am sure has way more fat and sugar, but is crispy and soft and sweet and salty all in the right proportions. It could have been my fault, but the cookies were so soft that they were falling apart a little. I probably should have baked them another minute, damn the instructions. (B +)
Now that I've made brownies with tofu, I feel like I've earned my vegetarian badge! I made the brownies that were termed more like the "box" brownies, since box brownies are my favorite kind. If you want cake, make cake. Cakey brownies are not my cup of tea. Now, to get the right consistency with box brownies, I have to take them out of the oven a couple of minutes early. This is not something I took into account with these brownies, and I got fair-tasting, a little dry brownies. This again, is probably my fault, and I should probably tinker with this a bit. My oven, when baking, almost always needs to cook things an extra couple of minutes past the max recommended time. I assumed this when I made these, and this assumption had me check them when they were already comfortably done. I will say that the batter was quite tasty, however!
I made seitan and green salsa today, but have not uploaded the pics yet.... will update you later. Happy cooking!

#21-23 Were Not Good Numbers

My house's foundation. Diamonds. My abs. These are all things that I would want to be rock hard. However, not the new roll recipe I am trying for lunch. I should have known that when I kneaded the dough and it was stiffer than cement, or when I had to add an extra half cup of water and it was still bone dry. But that's how the parsley pesto rolls I made today turned out. Herby, whole wheat hockey pucks.

Let's take it back a notch here. It's a 500 Vegan Recipes day on the home front. I actually might make even more recipes this evening for dinner, but for lunch I made the aforementioned parsley-pesto, parsley pesto rolls, and carrot cumin soup with parsley pesto dollops which I had meant to make yesterday but could not until the Baker helped me to work the food processor.

The pesto we made last night. Since I had loved the parsley-pesto walnut sauce from Donna Klein's book, I was greatly anticipating this pesto. However, I don't really like it. I think the Baker put his finger on it why. He said it tasted to him like a combination of pesto and hummus. I know this makes me a bad vegetarian, but I am not a fan of hummus. This really saddens me, because I love chickpeas in all kinds of things, however, I don't like this beany pesto. I thought that if it were an accent in something it might be better, but it wasn't any better in the (hard) rolls or (baby food-esque) soup.

So, the rolls were not my first visit to the baking picnic. I've been making yeasted rolls since I was a pre-teen and yeasted home-made bread from scratch for about a decade. So, you've got to understand that this wasn't a first-time baking snafu. I think it's a lot of flour for 6 rolls, and not enough moisture. I'm disappointed because I've loved so many bread recipes out of this book so far. None of them, as of yet, have been yeasted, but the blueberry cornmeal bread is out of this world.

The carrot cumin soup was okay, but it looked a little bit like baby food. I didn't like the texture, but the taste was fair. However, it was not enough to make it into my soup pantheon. I don't think a soup with the main part carrot is really something I can stand behind. It's too sweet for my soup tastes, yet again. I have to stay away from these sweeter soups.

77 to go. It would be awesome if I could finish 30 before the end of the month!

More New Recipes!

I did a bunch of cooking on Wednesday night. For #17, I made the fig compote from Italian Vegan Kitchen that I'd been threatening to. It is basically soaked dried figs, baked in a simple syrup, and lightly topped with toasted walnut pieces. I enjoyed it quite a bit when it was warm, but I probably should have toweled off the figs after soaking, they were a bit soggy in the pan. As they cooled down, they were also not as tasty. However, this was a fairly simply, yummy desert. A-
#18 Was a recipe for chard. I got a big bunch in my CSA box Wednesday, and decided to make quick work of it. One of the problems with having a list a mile long of lovely vegan cookbooks is that sometimes there is a recipe that I want to cook, and I'm sure it was in that book. No, perhaps in the other one? I think to find the recipe for chard and raisins with capers I must have looked through 10 books before it surfaced in Viva Vegan. Now, one of the reasons I needed to make quick work of this chard was that I had never last year found anything to do with my chard that satisfied me. I much prefer kale, and stick it into pretty much everything when I'm not sticking in spinach. For a chard recipe, and the first time I've ever had capers, it was not bad. Will I run out to the grocery store and buy chard to make it? No, but I can see making it again when I get some chard in my CSA share. B-
Wednesday really was a big orgy of cooking. Earlier in the day, I decided to use up some overripe bananas. But what to do? I love banana bread, but I thought there might be another recipe I could use these bananas in that would count to my summer goal. I looked through the index of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and spied a neat looking gluten-free cookie that used quinoa that didn't quite fit my bill, but made it onto the "gotta try" list, and spied two banana cookies. I decided to make the banana oatmeal breakfast cookies, as they required a bit less fat and no refined sugar, but relied on agave and brown rice syrup instead. I know it's not a kale salad, but why not?
My verdict was that they were all right. I was a little low on dried cranberries, and more of those might make these pop a bit more, but really, I prefer banana bread. The Baker, too, said that they reminded them of banana bread. In order to convince myself not to eat too many, I dropped off a bag at the gym, and the Daves loved them, or at least liked them enough to try and convince me to drop cookies off more often. Personally, they are all right, but I wouldn't sell my soul for them like the fig bars in the book. B
After a lovely trip to the Indian buffet yesterday afternoon for lunch, I decided that all that naan and white rice for lunch should prompt a healthier dinner. I went for a recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, a balsamic strawberry salad. The balsamic strawberries are mouthwateringly good (I told you I love the fruity stuff!) and on top of arugula, my husband loved the peppery punch. However, I'm not as big on the peppery flavor, so next time, I think I will have my strawberries on baby spinach instead. I love this recipe. It is simple, flavorful, and healthy. I think I ate a bowl of strawberries covered in balsamic vinegar all by myself. And all without adding sugar or oil!
So balsamic strawberry salad made up #20, and I was poised to eat, I mean make, a couple more today. I got out my ingredients and started loading them into the food processor. This was my first time piloting the processor on my own, the Baker being at work. Then it happened. For the next 20 minutes, I pushed and shoved and wiggled, but I couldn't get the machine to close. This shut down the rest of my cooking day, as the planned recipes all hinged around the parsley pesto I was going to whir up in the food processor (from 500 Vegan Recipes). Drat. I made an old standby soup instead, and promise to get on with the pesto tomorrow after my hubby helps me figure out the processor tonight.
80 to go! Happy cooking!

Recipes #12-16

I've been busy trying to catch up with recipes here on the old farm, I mean, suburban house. One of the recipes I'd been meaning to try was from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a chickpea and quinoa salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Since it involves a recipe for salad and one for dressing it counts as two recipes. Score! I followed with two more soups and one pasta from Donna Klein's Italian Vegan Kitchen.

Let's start with the salad. My husband loved it, and the flavorful dressing, which prompted me to try and work through my fear of food processors. Making the salad was painless, and I like the concept, but in practice, the salad was far too savory for me. I haven't been a salad person for very long. In fact, it's been about 2 years that I've been eating salad, and so far for me to like them they need some sort of fruit component. I've liked apple pie salad (lettuce with an apple sauce with cinnamon), strawberry and spinach salad, apple and spring mix with a hazelnut or walnut or citrus vinaigrette. Those choices have expanded the foods I've eaten considerably, but I'm still not at a place where I can enjoy such a savory salad. I'm disappointed, but I can live with it. C for me, A for the Baker.

The next two soups were far too average as well. The split pea with tomato and spinach was all right, but it had a sweet tinge to it I didn't find appealing. The no-fat added minestrone had its heart in the right place, but since the veggies weren't sauteed in even a little oil, the recipe amounted to a boiled veggie soup. Neither of the soups were bad, both were good enough for me to finish. However, I consider myself a bit of a soup afficianado, and to make it into my soup rotation, a soup really has to have something special. I'm considering re-making the minestrone with a tablespoon of olive oil, and sauteeing the mirepoix first. It's likely that that might make all the difference. Split pea gets a C, minestrone gets a B-.

The next recipe is a keeper, if a bit saucy. I made spaghetti with rosemary and red wine red sauce. The sauce is pretty darn good, though with the 12 oz of pasta, overpowered the noodles a touch. If I make it again, I think I would even out the ratio of sauce to noodles a bit by adding the full pound of noodles. I also think an extra clove or two of garlic wouldn't hurt... no surprise there, huh?

My plan had been to make a fig compote for desert tonight and bring my count up to 17, but between the soup and the pasta for dinner (not to mention the bread and sunflower seeds I ate while waiting for dinner)and I found I was just too full to eat any more. Perhaps you'll see the fig compote here tomorrow. Until then, happy cooking!

Recipes #9, 10, 11

Being incredibly sick for the last week put me behind in my cooking challenge. I was out with about the worst sinus infection I've had in a decade. I was hoping to get a leg up early on to make up for vacation next month, but here I am, running 4 recipes behind instead.

The Baker made me a tomato Florentine soup during my illness that was from Italian Vegan Kitchen. The soup was wonderful; a mirepoix with a few herbs including fresh basil, spinach, and ditalini. It was perfect sick food! I will definitely make it again, although it would definitely be better when adding my home-made herbed croutons! I made a very simple chickpea-tomato soup from the same book yesterday, pictured here. It is basically a tomato soup with rosemary and chickpeas, blended, then add ditalini. It too, was incredibly good (and made with half the oil in the recipe). I believe it will quickly become a pantry recipe, as there are very few evenings when I don't have canned tomatoes, garlic, and canned chickpeas and rosemary on hand. Use my immersion blender, and it can be ready in about half an hour.

In between the two soups, I got back out my copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and tried to assuage my oatmeal raisin cookie craving. The resulting cookies get a B from me, though it could have been my fault. The oatmeal, for me, was not mushed enough into the bulk of the cookie, and felt too grainy for my taste. I think I may have used the wrong kind of oats. It required quick cooking, and I don't think that's what I used. They weren't labeled as such. Of course, they weren't labeled slow cooking either, so I'm just not sure!

So, 11 recipes down, 89 to go! I am a little quick-breaded out for the moment, and am still waiting on the cherry tomatoes and basil at the CSA to come into season to start whipping out some more of the pasta and soup recipes, but so far, I'm overly fond of Donna Klein's Italian cook book. Now it's time for me to stick my nose into a book and figure out what's next!

Recipes #6 , #7, and #8

Sometimes the time gets away from you! I have only made three new recipes since I wrote last, though I have made more food from scratch than that.

One of the problems with cooking 100 new recipes in roughly 100 days is not that I don't have enough that sound interesting to me, but that even over the summer with a reduced teaching schedule there are constraints. The leftovers I have to finish eating (without the Baker's help the last few days since he's had some kind of stomach virus), as well as the unpredictability of whether or not I will like something after working on it and getting hungrier for 2 hours, and the huge bags of greens I've been getting from my CSA it means that I sometimes either don't have time or it doesn't make sense to make something new when I have so many pounds of salad greens and leftovers from a previous meal clogging my fridge.

One way around this was making cookies! I decided to make snickerdoodles from Kris Holechek's 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. I considered making the Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar version instead, but I didn't have enough Earth Balance butter. Kris' version substitutes some with applesauce, something I've been doing a lot with my baking lately.

The snickerdoodles, if I may say so myself, were pretty darn good. They did take longer to cook than expected, which happens a lot with my oven, and I did accidentally cook the second tray too long. The first was perfectly textured and chewy, the second, too hard. Also, I threw a lot of the sugar/cinnamon mixture away that I had rolled the cookies in; I think I would halve it when using it again. I also thought the cinnamon was a touch too heavy in the mixture.

The Low Down: Will I make them again? Very probably, though with all the baked goods I do make, I'm not sure they will feature in my rotation again soon. The breads and muffins I make require less fat and sugar, usually, and I don't have to get out the mixer. A-

The next thing I did was to make some seitan while baking up those cookies on Friday night. The jury is still out on the seitan, as I packaged it up and put it into the fridge for use in a later recipe. It was easy to make, and looked and smelled good however. It was Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe from Appetite for Reduction and I plan on making many more seitan recipes this summer for comparison.

Last night I made a socca, or a garbanzo bean flour pancake type recipe from Donna Klein's Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. The idea of these had intrigued me for a while, and I thought my iron skillet sufficiently seasoned to try. However, while it was fairly simple to make, the results were not pleasing to me. It turned out the way it should have, it just didn't suit my personal tastes. Reminded me of an omelet, in taste and texture, and a slightly underdone one at that. I'm not a big fan of eggs, was one of the easiest animal products for me to give up.

It's just another one of those recipes that are just fine, I'm sure, but remind me why I'm the picky gourmet. Some things don't suit the kinds of flavor profiles that I like. That's okay. But sometimes, a new flavor profile is exciting or inventive in a way that expands my palate. I can't always tell when this will happen, and that is part of the fun of this journey. 92 recipes to go!

Recipe #5

Tuesdays and Thursdays, for at least three more weeks, are my busier days. I teach from 9-1, get home at around 2, and have rehearsal for Annie in the evening (I leave at 6). Granted, it's not as busy as the school year, when I teach from 8:30 to 4:20, don't get home until 5, and then have to leave again at 6 for rehearsal, but it is busier than Monday and Wednesday when all I have to do is grade and work out.

So I knew yesterday that I would want to make something a little less challenging yesterday, which is why I opted for a simple side dish and only one recipe.

Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. I chose the Green Beans with Walnut Sauce in Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein. They are quick to make, and incredibly yummy. I ate them fairly fresh, and prepared the walnut sauce (which is more of a walnut/parsley pesto) in my blender, but it would have gone better in a food processor. Since I'm still afraid of the food processor and not sure how to use it, I went for the blender and had to do a lot of pulsing and scraping.

When I ate the beans, they were awesome, but I thought I would like to add another clove of garlic. One of the few things I love more than garlic is more garlic (except in cookies and cakes)! And fresh from the pot and blender, more garlic might have been nice. However, since I could not eat 1 1/2 pounds of beans alone, I put the rest in the fridge. After the Baker got home from work, he ate some and the garlic in them was much stronger. Perhaps after marinating, the flavors grew stronger?

I will make these again. And again. I'm not sure it's my favorite green bean recipe, but it is close. Grade: A

Recipes #3 and #4

Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero is a cookbook I fell in love with last summer when I first bought it. After a particularly bad experience trying dairy-free sour cream on my bean burritos using beans from her book, I've been on a very off phase with bean burritos. Also, when I got so many other cook books, I started using them.
Now that I have challenged myself to make 100 new recipes from my many cookbooks over the course of this summer, and I embraced Memorial Day Weekend as my starting point, I decided that I needed to re-embrace Viva Vegan. She's got a whole lot more in there than refried beans.
On Monday, when many of y'all were chilling at the BBQ, I was making Quick Red Posole (the stew pictured up there) and Orange Mojo Tofu. I also made some pineapple-lime coleslaw which, though awesome, is not a new recipe for me.
I'm a total lightweight, so I only put half the amount of ground chile powder stated in the posole. I'm sad to say, despite the many ingredients in the stew I usually like (tomatoes, onions, lime, cumin, etc.) it really didn't do anything for me and was still too hot for my sensibilities. My husband loved the soup, however. Will I make it again? Probably not. I didn't finish my bowl. But since the Baker loved it, I will grade it on a curve. C-/D+.
Why did I give you a pic for the soup, then? Why not the orange mojo tofu? Because the Baker and I ate the tofu so darn fast I was not able to take the picture. I won't lie, at first bite I didn't like it. I thought it was a little flavorless. However, I realized that our uneven stove allowed the orangey limey marinade to puddle away from the corner where the lower in flavor piece of tofu had cooked. The other pieces were awesome.
Will I make it again? Hells yes! In fact, if there were tofu in the fridge at present, I'd probably be making more right now.... Listen to me, people. This is the first time I've cooked tofu and loved it. This recipe is pretty awesome. A+