Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

I am a long time reader of the blog Vegan Crunk, written by Bianca Phillips, and I was excited when she released a cookbook Cookin' Crunk, full of great southern recipes. This book is a lot of fun, and I would definitely call it a go-to for comfort food recipes. I have so many recipes bookmarked to make, but today I will be sharing some of the recipes I have made so far.

Creamy Cashew Mac and Cheese and BBQ Dry Rub Seitan Ribs: Mac and cheese is my favourite, and this version is amazing. The sauce is fantastic! I ended up blending all of the soy milk with the rest of the sauce ingredients, rather than only a quarter and adding the rest later. The ribs are made from scratch, with lots of flavour in the seitan itself, and then coated in a dry rub. I think this was my first time having 'dry' ribs, apparently the wet vs dry debate rages on in Memphis! Rating: Mac and Cheese :D, Ribs :)



Boozy Baked Beans and Caramelised Brussels Sprouts with Pecans: I made the baked beans for my mum, who loves baked beans, and these were a good version. The booziness comes from beer, I used some Coopers stout, but it doesn't overpower the dish at all. This said is made 4-6 servings, we got three-ish servings. I guess we are boozy beer hounds! The Burssels sprouts were sweet but also garlicky and crunchy from pecans.
Rating: Beans :), Sprouts :)



Some-Like-It-Hot TLT: Technically I made this as a Some-Like-It-Mild TLT. I only used half the sriracha in the marinade, which imparted a very gently heat. The marinade was really nice, and included hoisin sauce. The recipe calls for an 8oz (I used 250g) block of tofu sliced into 4 equal slabs, which makes for thick slices! But that just meant a very satisfying sandwich.
Rating: :)



BBQ Tofu Spaghetti: Spaghetti, BBQ sauce, mushrooms and broccoli (which I used to replace the green capsicum), how can things be wrong? They can't. I had extra mushrooms in the sauce, and also served it over some kale. I used the BBQ sauce recipe from the book, which had a great tang to it.
Rating: Spaghetti :), BBQ Sauce :)



Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes and Tofu: Spaghetti squash is an ingredient that has only recently become available to me, and is still only sporadically available, so I am still finding my feet with it. Unfortunately I did slightly overbake it here, so it was a bit smooshy. The recipe calls for adobo seasoning or seasoning salt, and I used the American Seasoning from American Vegan Kitchen here. I needed to add a fair bit more seasoning than the recipe called for. Served here with baby spinach and bread rolls.
Rating: :)



Cheesy Burger Mac: So this may not look pretty, but it sure sounds pretty. Macaroni is blended with the book's recipe for Ground TSP Beef and Basic Cheese Sauce recipe to create a comfort classic. The sauce is based on nooch with no cashews. It was nice but I definitely preferred the sauce from the mac and cheese recipe. I made a half batch of the TSP recipe, which made just over a cup (the recipe says the full version makes a cup). My soy sauce was not reduced sodium, so it was quite salty, so next time I would dilute with some water. And when you put it all together into the mac, it is a great combo. Served over kale because greens. Superb with ketchup.
Rating: Mac :), Sauce :), TSP :)



BBQ Tempeh Pizza: This recipe uses the basic cheese sauce, BBQ sauce (I used some left over from another cookbook), tempeh, spinach and a pre-made base. The cheese sauce is used as the base for the pizza, but I had some extra so I drizzled it on top as well. This was a tasty pizza, though next time I would add pineapple because everyone knows that pineapple should be on pizza and it would go especially nicely with this one.
Rating: :)



Nutty Mushroom Quinoa: This is a great, earthy dish that I made in the end throws of winter. I cooked the quinoa in the rice cooker because sometimes I can be exceedingly lazy. It was nice.
Rating: :)



I definitely recommend this book, and checking out Bianca's blog. I have a lot that I still need to make from here, including some amazing sounding breakfasts and delectable desserts!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



One black princess, sitting on the sofa and thinking about life.