Friday 14 October 2011

VeganMoFo 2011 #14: 'Eat, Drink & Be Vegan'



Eat, Drink & Be Vegan
Dreena Burton, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007

Eat, Drink and Be Vegan


I can tell you the exact moment I purchased this book - 10.36am (and 34 seconds) on the 27th of April, 2009. I know this because I found the Borders docket still tucked away between the pages. This was the first book of Dreena's that I purchased, and it is definitely my favourite book of hers. This book has an entire chapter devoted to hummus, how can you not love that? There is a good range of recipes in this book. Dreena also loves to use spelt and oat flour in a lot of her recipes instead of white flour, so you can pretend you are being super healthy while nomming on your cookies.

The book is a paperback, the size means it does not stay open easily. There are several inserts with colour photos of some of the recipes. Contents include Introduction (kitchen equipment, cooking and food prep, cooking tips), Top o' the Mornin'! (Breakfasts), Hummus Hummus (and more Hummus), Bits & Bites (Other Dips & Nibblers), Pour It On! (Sauces, Dressings, & Toppers), Soup's On! (Soups & Stews), The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread (Sandwiches & Spreads), The Main Events (Casseroles, One-Pot Meals, Pastas & More), Sidekicks (Side Dishes & Accompaniments), Sugar 'n' Spice & All Things Nice (Desserts & Baking, Baking Notes, Baking Tips), A Toast To Being Vegan (Beverages), Grain & Bean Cooking Guides, Measurement Conversion Tables and a Glossary.

Now, five-star food times!

Berry Goodness Muffins

Berry Goodness Muffins

These muffins are so yummy. The berries in them are strawberries - my favourites! The flour mix include spelt, oat and chickpea powder, so they are practically good for you. Plus they keep you quite full.

Peanut Sesame Hummus

Peanut Sesame Hummus

Chickpeas, lime, peanut butter and sesame oil form the basis of this wonderful savoury dip. It is quite rich, but you won't want to stop eating.

White Bean Hummus with Fresh Thyme & Basil

White Bean Hummus with Fresh Thyme & Basil

This is made with white beans rather than chickpeas, so perhaps technically not a hummus. But it is delicious. The herby flavours come through very strong here.

Simplest Garlic Bread

Simplest Garlic Bread

I love this bread, though I don't know that I would call it garlic bread. Frozen baguette slices are rubbed with a raw garlic clove to impart the garlic flavour, but it is not as strong as I would normally make my garlic bread. The mix on the bread is Nuttelex (vegan butter), sea salt and nooch, so it is a wonderful cheesy and salty bread. Next time I will mix some minced garlic into the buttery spread.

Creamy Basil Dressing

Creamy Basil Dressing

I love this beautiful dressing, particularly over cucumbers and tomatoes as pictured here. The 'creamy' comes from non-dairy milk and raw almonds.

Polenta Croutons

Polenta Croutons

Take prepared polenta, cube, toss with olive oil and seasonings and bake. Oh my goodness, I like to make these just as a snack! They are so delicious.

Traditional Cranberry Sauce

Traditional Cranberry Sauce

This is my go to cranberry sauce, and with this in my repertoire I need never buy cranberry sauce again. I like this cranberry sauce recipe above others because it is easy and fast to make, and has only four ingredients that I generally have on hand (assuming I have a box of frozen cranberries). It thickens up beautifully, and has a fantastic flavour.

Broccoli Cashew Teriyaki Tofu Stir-Fry

Broccoli Cashew Teriyaki Tofu Stir-Fry

Served over soba noodles or rice, this is a delicious quick and easy dinner. I love that it is a homemade teriyaki sauce as well, no bottled stuff here. Of course I left out the capsicum.

Orange Sesame Tofu

Orange Sesame Tofu

There is lots of flavour in this tofu. Plus, there is lots of extra sauce leftover to drizzle over everything. I served this with Coconut-Lime Basmati Rice and Simple Swiss Chard, also from this book.

Coconut-Lime Basmati Rice

Coconut-Lime Basmati Rice

Here is the rice I served with the above! It is really delicious. I had some leftover basmati-wild rice mix so I mixed that in with the regular basmati rice. This also cooks well in the rice cooker!

Cornmeal-Crusted Plantains

Cornmeal-Crusted Plantains

This was the first thing I ever made with plantains - and they are so yummy! Lime juice is a must for serving.

Potato Squashers

Potato Squashers

These are everything I love about potatoes. Bake potatoes, squash potatoes then bake again on both sides with olive oil and salt. This is so good. I like to give them an extra five or ten minutes in the oven at the end to make them extra crunchy on the outside.

Rosemary Cornmeal Polenta Fries

Rosemary Cornmeal Polenta Fries

One of the other things I love is baked or fried seasoned polenta. These 'fries' are really good. The recipe says 510g of prepared polenta will give you 3-4 serves, but I used an entire 1kg block and found I got four servings out of that. I just give a minimal sprinkling of salt is all these need.

Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus
Back-to-Basics Balsamic Vinaigrette
Cumin-Cinnamon Vinaigrette
Living Caesar Dressing
Lentil Veggie Chimichangas

What is your favourite hummus?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Possum's tummy

This fluffy tummy fur belongs to the handsome Possum. You know you want to blow raspberries on it!

7 comments:

  1. *blows raspberries*
    :-)

    Both of those hummus (humuses, humusi???) look delicious and I love the ingredient combo, I definitely like the sound of a whole chapter dedicated to hummus.

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  2. you made so much from the book! it's one of my favorites, but I haven't had a chance to make as much from it as I would like to.
    mmm, that peanut hummus.
    my absolute favorite hummus is made with roasted red pepper though: the color and flavors are so fantastic!

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  3. I remember buying this book because I saw the Tiffany's Pancake recipe photo & knew I needed to eat them!! I really want to try that orange tofu. The polenta fries look great too.

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  4. I've got 2 other books of Dreena's but not that one. Looks like another winner. Her brownie recipe is my favourite one ever.

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  5. I've made that white bean hummus twice in the last week! It really is so good. I really have to try those potato squashers.

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  6. OOH! Polenta! Polenta cubes, polenta chips... with hummus! I'm in love with this book already! *smooshies kitten tummy*

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  7. That's one of my favorite books, so many great recipes. Those two hummus recipes re my favorites, I could (and do) make them over and over and over again.

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