Recipe Round-Up: Big Vegan

Finishing out some more recipes I have made from Big Vegan, by Robin Asbell. You can see the rest of my posts from this book here.

Tibetan Beef Fried Noodles: The recipe calls for sliced seitan to be used as the beef here, but instead I reconstituted some TVP slices with some beef-style stock and then cut them into strips. They were really tasty, and to be honest I prefer them to seitan. The noodles here are angel hair pasta, so nice and thin, and as well as the beef they are mixed with carrot, celery, tomato, and spinach (I added some extra spinach). They have a nice spiced flavour, a mix of garam masala and curry powder (I used less and a mild version). Very nice.
Rating: :)



Corn and Cauliflower Stir-Fried Noodles with Peanuts: This used the other half of my packet of angel hair pasta (though a half packet is 250g, more than the 170g called for, but I scaled up). I also scaled up the cauliflower, using a half head rather than one cup. This is meant to have a cheery yellow color scheme, with corn and yellow squash, but I used zucchini for the squash and make it more colourful. I also added 200g of Soyco Japanese Marinated Tofu. As I had increased some of the ingredients, I also increased the sauce ingredients by using AU tablespoons rather than US tablespoons (20mL vs 15mL). I served the crushed peanuts as a garnish, rather than mixing it through, and also popped some fresh coriander on top.
Rating: :)



Japanese Okinomiyaki Veggie Pancake: This uses silken tofu to replace the usual eggs in making okinomiyaki, and the pancake mix has cabbage, carrot, onion, and shiitake mushrooms mixed through. I only had a 9 inch tin, rather than 10 inch, to bake it in, so I baked a bit longer as it was thicker. It was nice, but fairly soft. The recipe has you make both a tomato sauce and a wasabi mayo for garnish. For the wasabi mayo, I used some vegan kewpie powder mixed with some wasabi powder, rather than vegenaise mixed with wasabi paste.
Rating: :)



Squash, Tofu, and Red Onion Roast with Sweet Soy Glaze: I had some technical issues with this, as following the roasting instructions for the titular ingredients didn't really do much, I ended up uncovering them, turning up the heat, and cooking longer and they roasted up nicely. The glaze didn't really dry out the way it said it would (you add it at the end of baking), but it thickened and coated everything nicely. This is a lovely dinner, and is nice with some rice and a green side. I roasted some brussels sprouts.
Rating: :)



Roasted Tofu and Veggie Curry in Garlicky Coconut Gravy: Again, I had to increase the baking time and temperature, and uncover, to get these to roast nicely. The vegetables here are cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, and turnips. However as they are baked with the sauce ingredients, the sauce ended up mostly absorbed. At the end, it has you sprinkle in some brown sugar and toss, which made it oddly sweet, I would skip this or use less. Overall this was kind of odd and bland, yet also a little moreish, which I suspect was the result of roasted veggies being delicious no matter what.
Rating: :|



Tofu and Rice Brown Rice and Veggies: The nice thing about this is instead of putting everything together in a pot on the stove, I could just throw it all into my rice cooker and then not even think about it until it was time for dinner. I love rice cookers. It's cooked in a coconutty sauce (light coconut milk for me, of course), and has a nice flavour from the seaweed. The recipe called for crumbled dulse, I don't have any I could crumble but I did have some dried dulse flakes that I used. But I cut the amount down from 1 cup to 1 20AU tablespoon, or it would have completely overtaken the dish because the flakes are quite concentrated.
Rating: :)



Millet, Ginger, and Edamame One Pot with Orange: This comes together prety quickly and easily, with a mix of carrots, scallions, and edamame as well with orange juice and zest and a garnish of nori. It tasted good, but was just a bit dry. Needed some more sort of sauce for it.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yesterday (August 8th) was International Cat Day. But Dim Sim would like to remind everyone that EVERY DAY is indeed international cat day.

Recipe Round-Up: Big Vegan

Big Vegan, by Robin Asbell, was a book I bought when I had a spurt of buying vegan cookbooks several years ago. I had seen a couple of people posting about it. But it is a book I haven't used that much, as witnessed by the fact that the last (and only) recipe round-up I did from it was almost five years ago! Since then, I've posted a couple of other random recipes from it on the blog, but it was time to really dig in to this book a bit. Because it does have recipes that appeal to me, I just had kind of forgotten about it on the shelf. You can see what I have already posted from this book here.

Strawberry-Banana Blender: This is very thick, you could almost make a smoothie bowl out of it. All the fruit is frozen, and it also has some rolled oats in it for extra staying power. I used pain oat milk (rather than vanilla) and added a touch of vanilla extract. I also left out the almond extract it called for, because I find it just makes everything taste like marzipan. Australian almond extract may be different to the ones in the US? Who knows. This also has the option of adding some straberry jam to it, which I did. I used St Dalfours, which is fruit sweetened, because I find sugar sweetened jam too sweet for me.
Rating: :)



Hemp-Cherry Muesli: I made a half batch of this supposedly four serve recipe, but two serves served one me. Granted it was a very filling serve. This is an overnight oats kind of deal, but as well as rolled oats it has rolled rye (which I used instead of rolled barley, which I do not have), and some toasted hemp seeds. I find too much hemp can make me feel a bit icky, so instead of using 1/4 cup I just used a 20mL Australian TBS. Again, I didn't have vanilla milk so I used plain oat milk with a smidge of vanilla paste, and I also added a drizzle of maple and agave (using up a few drips from the end of some bottles). It uses dried cherries, which plump up after soaking overnight. You can eat this cold, of heat it up in the microwave, I ate it cold. Also very nice with a bit of PB drizzled over it, and some fresh fruit. You can see I also added some slivered almonds for a bit of crunch.
Rating: :)



Sunshine Carrot-Tofu Scramble: I love eating scrambled tofu as brinner! But if you are making it in the morning, you can mix most of the tofu mixture together the night before and pop it in the fridge overnight, ready for you to cook in the morning. This scramble has some cooked quinoa added for extra protein, as well as grated carrots and spinach (I added a bit extra of both those veggies). I left out the yellow capsicum, and added some celery instead. It recommends serving with some sunflower seeds on top. This was nice, but could have done with a smidge more seasoning. It has quite a nice seasoning mix, but maybe just increase it a bit. I served this with some potato gems.
Rating: :)



Warm Teriyaki Tofu and Wilted Spinach Salad: This is really more like a sautee than a salad, as everything gets put in a pan at some point. The tofu is glazed with a mix of soy sauce and mirin. I sauteed the scallions with the tofu, as I prefer them well cooked. Once the tofu is cooked, you wilt the spinach in the pan with some carrot and celery, which I used in place of water chestnuts (I am not the biggest fan of them). I got three dinner sized serves from this, and served it with some rice.
Rating: :)



Indonesian Fried Rice: This is in the side dishes chapter, but I turned it into a main by adding a 200g block of Japanese-marinated tofu. I also mixed up the veggies a bit, ditching the capsicum and fresh chile for carrots and celery. This has curry powder in it, and because I am me I decreased it from 2tsp to just 1/2tsp and used a mild curry powder, which was just right. This was a bit dry though, so I'd suggest adding more soy sauce when cooking.
Rating: :)



Sweet Moroccan-Glazed Tofu with Couscous: This is a lovely combination. The tofu is rubbed in spices, and then cooked in a mix of oil and agave to give a lovely glaze. The couscous is seasoned and full of peas and carrots. I also served this over some baby spinach.
Rating: :)



Szechuan Eggplant with Peanuts: This recipe as made way back in the earlier days of me using this book, when I had a little bit more heat tolerance than I do now. Still, I used sririacha instead of red chile paste because straight up chile paste is just way too much. The recipe is a mix of eggplant and tofu, but instead of using plain tofu I used my trusty Soyco Japanese-Marinated Tofu. Served over jasmine rice and baby spinach, this was two big looking servings, though it wasn't that filling.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Every second Friday I start work at 2pm. And every second Friday Dim Sim climbs onto my lap and I have to move her off to leave for work, which is a tragedy for both of us.

Granola Round-Up

Hello friends, this is a recipe round-up with a difference. Instead of rounding-up recipes from a single book, I am instead rounding-up a type of food from several books. In this case, granola. I have really been on a granola kick of late. I just love me some oats! I started off buying this apple crumble ganola that I loved, I would eat it so often with yoghurt. It was really really good. And then one day, I just didn't enjoy it anymore. *shrug* So I started making my own granola from my recipe books, which is really super easy! I generally halve, third, or even quarter the recipe (some of them make huge amounts) because I have been wanting to try lots of different onces. Granola making and eating has become something I have really been enjoying since I've been isolating. I normally will eat it with yoghurt, fruit, and sometimes a big blob of peanut butter. Also, sorry in advance, I am not very inventive when taking photos of granola.

Macadamia Yoghurt Granola from 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: This is a very subtly flavoured granola, oaty and nutty with a slight sweetness. It is good for using on stronger flavoured yoghurts. I halved the recipe, which made three serves (a serve for me is normally a heaped half cup measure), and I replaced the coconut oil with canola oil.
Rating: :)



Maple Cinnamon Granola from Power Plates by Gena Hamshaw: This is a delicious granola, it is buttery and maply and salty and sweet crunchy and all things good. I made a half recipe, which fit perfectly onto a single baking tray. There are a few options for ingredients, I used wheatgerm (but raw, not toasted), a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, and dried cranberries.
Rating: :D



Fruit-Sweetened Chai-Spiced Granola from Big Vegan by Robin Asbell: This is sweetened using apple juice concentrate, though I only had apple juice, but there is the option to add brown sugar (which I did). I quartered this recipe, for three serves. It has a lovely blend of spices, including black pepper for some warmth, and also has pecans.
Rating: :)



Easy Homemade Granola from 350 Best Vegan Recipes by Deb Roussou: Alas, a disappointing granola. The problem may have been that it had no sweetener, other than orange juice, and it seemed to have far too much liquid when I mixed it all together and then it stayed soggy and pale in the oven for too long. It had a 90 minute baking time, I ended up increasing the heat for the final 30 minutes to get it to brown and crisp up. Also, because it was just orange juice and no sweetener, it didn't get that nice sticky coating. Thankfully I had only made a half recipe of this, because it was underwhelming. It had the usual suspects of almonds, sunflower seeds, and pepitas in it. The spice was cardamom, which was nice, and it had dried blueberries as well.
Rating: :|



DIY Granola from Veganize It by Robin Robertson: This is a nice mix of almonds, coconut, pecans, dried cranberries and blueberries, and spice. It was meant to be cinnamon, but I unexpectedly ran out so I used a mixed spice that was mostly cinnamon with a bit of nutmeg and allspice in it. I made a half recipe of this (which was still 4 cups worth of granola!), and it was done a bit sooner than the baking time if you were making the whole recipe. I think the key to granola is always just to regularly check it in the oven so it doesn't burn.
Rating: :)



Peanut Ginger Berry Golden Oats from The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: This was a lovely warming recipe, thanks to a hefty dose of ground ginger! It is sweetened with brown rice syrup, though I used rice malt syrup, and I also used crushed peanuts as that was what I had on hand (also it is nicer eating smaller bits of crunch I think). You can add any dried berry to it, so I added cranberries. Quite a festive granola with ginger and cranberry. I made the whole recipe of this, as it only made two and a half cups, and I am glad that I did. I did have to bake it for a bit longer in the oven to get it to go nice and brown.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yes Dim Sim, this looks like a very comfortable way to sleep. But she's got the crocheted blanket, so she is very happy.

VeganMoFo 2015 #10: Blue Books

10. Something blue.

Something blue, something blue, something blue... food wise all I could think of was blueberries, and it isn't really blueberry season right now. Blue things in my kitchen? I have a couple, but really my tastes run more to marshmallow pink. What is the greatest resource in my kitchen? My cookbooks of course! In this post I will be sharing a photo of a favourite recipe from each of my blue cookbooks. To qualify they had to have both a blue spine AND a blue base to the cover. In just over 100 books I had eight that fit the criteria.





BIG VEGAN by Robin Asbell was the subject of my last post before MoFo. Thankfully I still had a couple of recipes left to share!
Simple Rice and Veggie Curry One Pot: This simple recipe is made in a rice cooker, and includes sweet potatoes, green beans and cabbage. I used medium grain brown rice instead of short, which worked fine. I had to decrease the curry powder to fit my mild tastes.
Rating: :)



BLISSFUL BITES by Christy Morgan is a great cookbook, full of yummy seasonal recipes.
Lemony Roasted Beets, Brussels, and Yams: This dish is absolutely beautiful to look at! It tastes sweet and lemony, and was great served as a component of a bowl (with a grain, chickpeas and tahini miso dressing). I used sweet potato instead of yams. I had to spread the vegetables across two baking sheets as they wouldn't fit only on one.
Rating: :)



BUT I COULD NEVER GO VEGAN by Kristy Turner is one of my new cookbooks. It is super fun, with lots of clever and inventive recipes grouped under all the different excuses people give for why they could not go vegan.
Jackfruit Nacho Supreme: This was the first recipe I made from here (well, technically second because I had to make the sour cream recipe first). Seasoned jackfruit is piled on top of tortilla chips and then topped with a refreshing bean and corn salsa and assorted nacho toppings, the most important of which is the cashew-based nacho cheese sauce. I found the sauce became very thick, so you may need to thin it a little. I left out the capsicums and chiles because that is how I roll.
Rating: :)



LA DOLCE VEGAN by Sarah Kramer is not a book I tend to use a great deal, however when I needed to find a miso gravy for my Veggie Grill-inspired harvest bowl for day 6 of MoFo, this book delivered.
Merciful Miso Gravy: This gravy is really yummy, my mum particularly loved it (and she knows her gravy). It is based on roux and milk (oat milk in my case) and then mixed with a miso slurry at the end. I added a little bit of gravy browner, as I prefer my gravy brown, so if you make it as the recipe states then it will be a creamy colour.
Rating: :)



THE NEW VEGAN by Janet Hudson is a book I have not used in a long time. While I have made a few nice things from it, it reads like an omni cookbook with the word 'veggie' in front of what would otherwise be a non-vegan ingredient. Plus some of the recipes just don't look right. I am resharing this photo from a previous post, because I haven't made anything new to upload.
Greek Toast: Cream cheese, olives, sundried tomatoes, cucumber and capers make a creamy and tasty filling, and the toast s coated and baked until crunchy and brown. It is yum!
Rating: :)



THE ULTIMATE UNCHEESE COOKBOOK by Jo Stepaniak came out a very long time ago, before we were all making artisan vegan cheeses. I got this book from a friend who was cleaning out her cookbook collection, and I have only made one recipe from it so far. It is appropriate for today's theme!
Creamy Bleu Cheez Dressing: This dressing is based on tahini and miso and has a heft dose of lemon juice and white wine vinegar. I replaced the oil in the recipe with hot water, and I only made a half batch. I poured it all over a salad of cos (romaine for my US friends), black beans and cucumber. Yum!
Rating: :)



VEGAN COOKIES INVADE YOUR COOKIE JAR by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero really needs no introduction!
Rocky Roads: I made these recently for a bake sale to use up some white chocolate I had kicking around because I myself am not a fan of white chocolate. I didn't have white chocolate chips, rather a bar of chocolate that I chopped up for this, and the chunks melted and made the cookies kind of deformed, but people still snapped them up! The ones in this picture are the prettiest ones, and the one of the right is smiling at you! These also have regular chocolate chips and chopped roasted almonds in them. No marshmallow or jelly, because American rocky road is not as good as Australian rocky road! ;)
Rating: :)



WRAPPED IN PASTRY by my friend Leigh Drew is now out of print, which is sad for those who don't have it because it is great and contains my go to pastry recipes! Also, the title is a Twin Peaks reference, so that is awesome. This book has so many goodies in it, some of which I will touch on later in MoFo.
Peanut Butter Caramel Blueberry Pie: This is every bit as awesome as it sounds, and was the first recipe I made when I tested for this book. The peanut butter caramel is so simple (four ingredients), and I have used it many other times for other recipes. Normally I think of strawberry as a friend for peanut butter, but blueberries are amazing. They also look pretty, along with salted peanuts. So yummy!
Rating :D



I just realised there are some blueberries, blue cheese and a few blue bowls in this post!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post: Month of Gizmo



Those eyes! I could stare into them for days. I miss Gizmo everyday, but the last few weeks it has really been hitting me hard again. Sharing these photos and showing everyone what a beautiful girl she was makes me happy.

Recipe Round-Up: Big Vegan

Can you believe that VeganMoFo starts in 2 days? I will be blogging along with the daily challenges every day throughout September. I hope! I have a busy September, but I have been doing lots of fun preparations to get ready. For today though, it is blog business as usual.

Big Vegan is a book I bought awhile ago after seeing it appear on a few blogs. It looked good, though I haven't made much from it. There are a lot of things that look quite good, but a lot of the recipes seem a bit overly fussy and complicated for what they actually are. I need to explore it more when I have more time on my hands.

Saag Paneer with Cilantro-Mint Chutney: I poorly planned this recipe, not realising it had more steps than I was expecting! The tofu is marinated and baked, and makes a tasty snack on its own. The spinach sauce has several steps, leading to a fairly smooth sauce and a very saucy dish. The Cilantro-Mint Chutney (made with coconut milk) was a lovely accompaniment. Served over brown rice.
Rating: Saag :), Chutney :)



Veggie Fried Rice with Black Soy and Szechuan Green Beans: This is a very tasty fried rice recipe, and includes peanut butter and black bean sauce in it's ingredients. I'd had a tin of black soy beans kicking around for ages, so this was the perfect place to use them up. The green beans were also really nice, not to spicy, and a great side for the rice.
Rating: Fried Rice :), Green Beans :)



Broccoli, Carrot, and Chickpea Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette: This salad comes together quickly, tastes good and is great for lunches.
Rating: :)



Tempeh and Tomato Pasta Salad: This recipe has a bit of fiddling, but tastes really good. The tempeh is marinated and baked, and the freshness of the tomato and carrots is great. This recipe called for raw red onion, but I declined.
Rating: :)



Broccoli with Cheese Sauce: This was good, but the sauce, which was roux based, was a bit odd in that it almost reminded me of a slightly cheesy creamed corn flavour rather than a classic cheesy sauce. Still good, but would not be my go to cheese sauce.
Rating: :)



Kidney Bean, Avocado, and Green Salsa Wraps: This recipe claims to make four wraps and serve four people, but I made two wraps with it and ate it all! You make a simple refried bean recipe with the kidney beans.
Rating: :)



Tofu Pad Thai: I enjoy Pad Thai a lot (not as much as Pad See Ew), but this one was fairly plain. It needed more vegetables and just a bit more flavour. Also very small serves! Rating :)



Mediterranean-Style Kale, Carrot, and Edamame Saute: This sounds like it should be great but was actually pretty meh. Not really much flavour at all in it.
Rating: :|



Mediterranean Tempeh and Broccoli Roast: This was much better than the above, with the tempeh taking on a lovely flavour and the roasted vegetables really complementing it. Served over brown rice.
Rating: :)



Kerala Coconut Rice with Tofu, Carrots, and Cashews: This was yummy. I often have bad luck with baked rice recipes, so I soaked the brown rice first for about an hour and it cooked fine in the allotted time. I decreased the coconut milk from 1 1/3 cups to 3/4 cup and made the rest up with water, and I also added peas.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sahara's birthday was on Friday. She turned 14!