#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.