Recipe Round-Up: Cook The Pantry

In a sudden burst of blogging energy, I'm finishing my round-up of things I have made from Cook The Pantry by Robin Robertson today. Find other posts about this book here.

Kitchen-Sink Capellini: Angelhair pasta is not something I eat often, but every time I eat it I just love it! This is a very fast recipe with tinned and sundried tomatoes, artichokes, olives, spinach, and olives. I also added some green peas or extra.
Rating: :)



Artichoke-Cannelini Linguine: This kind of gives me picatta vibes, with capers and white wine and butter and lemon juice. It is easy to make, though I got three serves rather than four. The recipe has forgotten to say when to add the lemon juice, so I added it in the last minute of cooking.
Rating: :)



Rotini with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce and Walnuts: I used a hard-to get tin of pumpkin for this recipe. The pumpkin sauce initially is very liquidy, but it thickens when the pasta is added. I also added some white beans and peas, and I used toasted almonds instead of walnuts.
Rating: :)



Pasta Marinara: This is very quick to make, and relies mostly on crushed tomatoes with some red wine and seasonings, but I found the sauce was a bit bland and needed some adjustments. As well as the pasta, I added some kidney beans and peas.
Rating: :|



Manchurian Black Bean Noodles: This recipe calls for black bean linguine, which I didn't have but I did have some black bean spaghetti. I don't remember the brand, but this was actually a nice bean-based pasta. The Manchurian-style sauce was nice, though I did find it got sucked unto the pasta pretty quickly, so I'd double it next time.
Rating: :)



Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce: You know I made this into Noodles with Peanut Sauce, no spicy. The peanut sauce was still lovely without the spice, and was freat on the noodles along with broccoli, peas, and tofu. Once again though, it ended up a bit dry because the noodles sucked up all the sauce. Double to sauce. I like things saucy.
Rating: :)



Spaghetti Lo-Mein: This is turning into a pasta post! Once again I wanted more sauce for this, but the flavour was good. I used Japanese marinated tofu instead of soy curls, and peas instead of capsicum.
Rating: :)



Stovetop Peach-Blueberry Crumble: Finishing the post off with a couple of desserts. I made a half-recipe of this, which was really easy to make. I used frozen peaches and blueberries, but ended up needing to make it a blueberry peach-crumble because although my bag of frozen peaches said it had 300g in it, it ended up being about 100g, so I switched quantities. I cooked this on a stove in a mini-frying pan, and it was a quick and fun Sunday afternoon project.
Rating: :)



Fudgy Brownie Mug: As you can see, I actually made it in a little bowl. This is a microwave recipe, and I don't know how to take good photos of microwave cake mugs. This was very quick and tasted good, though my microwave is high powered so I think I over cooked it a little.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This happened a couple of nights ago! Mirabelle snuck in next to Eloise, who was sleepy enough not to try and bop her. Very exciting!!! It has not happened since.

Recipe Round-Up: Cook The Pantry

So many recipe from so many cookbooks to round up. This will be lifelong goal that I probably will never achieve, but it is also fun and gives my motivation to use my cookbooks more! Today I am continuing to work through Cook The Pantry, by Robin Robertson. You can see other posts about this book here.

Everyone's Favourite Black Bean Chili: This uses a mix of TVP and black beans. Technically the TVP is optional, but why would you leave it out? It's fantastic. I reconstituted it with some beef-style stock for extra flavour. I used a mix of mild salsa and tinned tomato to make up the quantity of salsa needed, which gave a nicer flavour I think. The sauce also has BBQ sauce in it, which I loved. And of course I left out the chili powder and replaced it with some smoked paprika.
Rating: :)



Cheesy Grits and Greens with Smoky Mushrooms: We don't really have grits here. We have polenta, which I normally use instead of grits. But for this I had some leftover gluten free corn polenta, so I used that. It gets the cheesiness from nutritional yeast, and I added a bunch more than the recipe called for because I just love that noochy cheese flavour. For the greens I used baby spinach, and I used chopped portobello mushrooms. My liquid smoke is extremely strong, so I did decrease the amount of that I used so it didn't taste like ash. The smoky level was good with this, but it did lack a bit of flavour, adding some soy sauce would be good.
Rating: :|



Hoppin' John and Collards: Given that I cannot get collards here and I canonly have black eyed peas if I cook then from scratch, I subbed in some frozen chopped kale and black beans, and I also added in an extra handful of baby spinach at the end of cooking. This was lovely with brown rice, beans, and greens. Topped with some sour cream and vegan bacon bits, and served with a cornbread muffin.
Rating: :)



Paella from the Pantry: This has a lot of ingredients, but comes together quickly if you have pre-cooked rice. I left out the roasted peppers and the chilli flakes. The flavour was a bit flat, despite all the other ingredients.
Rating: :|



Greek Freekeh and Spinach with White Beans: I really enjoyed this. It had simple flavours - freekeh, spinach, white beans, olives, lemon, dill - but they all went together really nicely. I added a whole big bag of baby spinach for extra greens. This says it serves four, but it really is more like three.
Rating: :)



Top-Shelf Couscous Pilaf: This has a bunch of things going on in it - carrot, spices, chickpeas, peas, nuts, and herbs. Though really you can add whatever extra vegetables or additions you feel like. It comes together quickly, and is satisfying. Another one that makes three rather than four serves.
Rating: :)



Jerk Tempeh with Coconut Quinoa: Thsi recipe calls for 225g of tempeh, I used a 300g block and doubled most of the sauce ingredients (except for the lime). The quinoa is cooked in coconut milk, I used a mix of light coconut milk and water to get the nice coconut flavour but keep it Susan friendly. The stronger flavours of the jerk tempeh went well with the coconut quinoa.
Rating: :)



Giardiniera Mac and Cheese: The recipe calls for a jar of giardiniera, but I made my own (from Robin's 1000 Vegan Recipes cookbook) so I could control exactly what vegetables I used in it. The cheese sauce is cashew based and has lots of lovely flavours in it. I also added some peas at the end for extra greenery.
Rating: :)



Puttanesca in a Pinch: I love puttanesca, though of course I leave out any spicy chilli flakes! This came together very easily. I used spinach fettuccini (which I sadly don't seem to be able to find anymore) and I also added some kidney beans and peas.
Rating: :)



Capellini with Palm-Heart Scampi Sauce: Hearts of Palm are not the easiest to find here, but I am always on the look out for them. This recipe was one of the first time I had every used them. I don't know why people use them in place of seafood, because they are more like a mild artichoke flavour than anything else? Which is good, because I don't like most vegan seafood products. This was a bit dry overall, so I added some extra pasta water to the sauce.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Buffy the clinic cat.

Recipe Round-Up: Cook The Pantry

What is this? A blog post! And not only a blog post, but a recipe round-up post! Let's move on to the next cookbook I want to share with you, and we'll get quite a few posts from this. Cook The Pantry by the prolific cookbook author Robin Robertson is a book focused on quick to make recipes with primarily pantry-friendly ingredients. You can see other things I have made from this book here.

Red Bean Chili: Of course I used no chili in the making of this recipe, my chilis are not even mild, they are zero heat! I loved how this had a mix of beans and TVP crumbles in it. The TVP is technically optional, but not really because TVP makes everything excellent. I made a half recipe of this so I used a whole tin of kidney beans and a half tin of black beans, so I guess it is red black bean chili. I also swapped out the frozen onion and capsicums for fresh onion and celery. For the spices I used a heaped tsp of smoked paprika instead of chili powder and chipotles, and I also added some corn kernels because I had them. Served over brown rice and baby spinach with some sour cream on top.
Rating: :)



Taco Salad with Corn and Black Bean Salsa: I love taco salads in summer, such a great combination of fresh ingredients. This salad has black beans, corns, coriander, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and tortilla chips. I used a 200g jar of mild taco sauce in place of the salsa with the beans, and I also left out the scallions. Topped with some plain soy yoghurt (rather than sour cream) with some grated Vegusto cheese on top.
Rating: :)



Asian Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing: I love peanut butter noodles, hot or cold! This has carrot and green peas in it, but I also added some diced marinated tofu. I also used diced celery instead of water chestnuts, and obviously left out the chili flakes.
Rating: :)



Suddenly Sushi Salad: Sushi salads and bowls are another one of my favourites in summer. This one has a layer of baby cos, a layer of sushi rice, and then a layer of a heart of palm mixture. The heart of palm is shredded and then mixed with carrot, cucumber, and soy sauce for a really nice addition. Topped with avocado, some optional marinated baked tofu, avocado, pickled ginger, and nori shreds. This said is serves four but really it was three serves.
Rating: :)



Sesame Soba Salad: Yes, more noodle salads! This one featuring a wonderful dressing made from sesame oil, soy, hoisin, rice wine vinegar, and ginger. I left out the sririacha. I left out the scallions, and I mixed in some shredded baby cos instead of cabbage, grated carrot, and dived marinated tofu. I also added some extra hoisin in the dressing because I love hoisin.
Rating: :)



Homestyle Hash Burgers: These were a bit of a disaster in the structural sense, the mix was too loose to really make patties with, even after adding in some gluten flour (my own addition, not in the recipe), so I ended up just kind of cooking it as a big mess and trying to flip parts of it. But it still tasted good! It has thawed and mashed potato gems (tater tots) in it, which was fun. Also lentils and vegetables. I did swap out the roasted peppers for grated carrot, so that may have contributed it to it falling apart. I served these on buns with lots of ketchup and a side of more potato gems.
Rating: :)



What has been going on with you all?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Mirabelle just hanging around on the scratching post in the sun room.

Other assorted Christmas Eats and the New Year

Yesterday I shared the main event, but there were lots of other assorted Christmas eats as well to show you.

Pfeffernusse were always one of my favourite things about Christmas, but the ones available here aren't even vegetarian (they have gelatine), let alone vegan. One of my friends who lives in Germany sent me some vegan ones when he was back home last year! They are so good, I just love them so much.



I had actually bought this during Christmas 2021, but never used it. It languished in my freezer until I finally made if for a cleaning out the freezer lunch in December. It was even still in date! I didn't see this in Coles this year, so I guess it was a one and done. It is a vegan selection including sweet and sour candy canes (which are kind of like very thing spring rolls, and had a lot of capsicum in them), jackfruit star toasts, and cauliflower and pumpkin balls. The 'candy canes' were not good, even without the capsicum issue they just were not very crispy or tasty. The balls were quite sweet, but not bad, and the jackfruit toasts were adequate. I wouldn't buy these again, even if they did put them back next Christmas.



For Christmas Eve I returned to my semi tradition of making nachos!

Vegan Nachos from Happy Vegan by Fearne Cotton: The star of the show here is a vegan cheesy chip recipe you also need to make first (though it says you can sub shot bought vegan cheese). This is a lovely cashew based dip. I made this the day before, as I was working on Christmas Eve morning and I wanted to be able to just throw everything together. The nachos also have refried beans, avocado, tomatoes, and salsa, plus coriander. I left out the fresh spring onions and pickled chillies. Rather than making these as a double layer nachos, I used a larger container for a single layer. I also double the amount of refried beans so I could use up the entire can (I used Old Elpaso brand). The recipe calls for plain soy yoghurt, which I could use, but instead I used some of the Made With Plants Sour Cream, which is my favourite sour cream. The tortilla chips, refried beans, and cheesy sauce are baked to get all warm and gooey, and then it is topped with all the fresh ingredient.
Rating: Nachos :), Cheesy Dip :)





I also made us a lovely platter for Christmas Eve dessert.





Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) calls for lots of snacks! I was excited to try these Turkey and Stuffing chips, but the flavour was just a bit flat. I find that chip flavours rarely live up to the promise.



And some lovely dips! I've had both of these before, and I really enjoy them. Especially the sweet potato one.



Stollen and Rum Balls are also an important part of festive snacking.



As are festive toasted sandwiches. This has some of the leftover cranbery sauce with some Leftfields Brie and Made With Plants smoked ham in it.



I always make a salad for dinner on Boxing Day, because I am generally craving some vegetables after a day of snacking.

White Bean Nicoise Salad from Cook The Pantry by Robin Robertson: I love nicoise salad. For this one I used the option of roasting the potatoes (because why wouldn't I?), and I used some frozen green beans to make it pantry friendly because I used all my fresh ones on Christmas Day. This also has cherry tomatoes, olives, and cannelini beans in a wonderful tangy dressing.
Rating: :)



And a little sneaky post of New Year's Day food. I worked on New Year's Eve, and even though I finished at 1pm I was wrecked. Plus I had to briefly wake up at 4.30am on New Year's Day to give Boo a specifically timed medication. So I did not feel like making pizzas or platters. I could have ordered in some vegan pizzas, but I didn't feel like it so we ordered in Japanese food and I was snug in bed nice and early. I also did not make pancakes for breakfast on New Year's Day. See above feeling wrecked. But I still did make an easy dinner. I used to make all the black-eyed peas and greens recipes fod dinner on New Year's Day, but I have expanded that now to any sort of beans and greens.

Pan-Fried Butter Beans & Greens from Sweet Potato Soul by Jenne Claiborne: This is so simple! I love butter beans, and these are pan-fried until crispy. Then you sautee some greens. As we can't get collard greens here, I used kale. The flavours are very simple, so jazz up with salt, soy sauce, or hot sauce (if that floats your boat) at will. I served it over some brown rice and topped it with some avocado.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



You definitely deserve a kitty photo after making it through that giant post (it's cool if you just skimmed the pictures to get down to this part). Eloise's turn with the Santa hat! OK, I probably could have gotten it on her head, but putting it above her head on the floor like this was just too cute and funny. She is also modelling her Meowwww catnip sun, which was one of her Christmas presents.

2018 Pizza Challenge Part Two

Continuing on with the second half of last year's goal to make pizza once a month!

Meatball Pizza from Vegan Pizza by Julie Hasson: I actually made this twice. The first time was not such a success, because I used the Ikea veggie balls and they are just too sweet and not right for this kind of thing. The second time I made it using the Gardein meatballs, and it worked much better! I only made a half quantity of the sauce both times. The first time I tried to get it all on, which ended up making the base (I used a ready made for this attempt) too smooshy. The second time I used just what I needed, so there was some sauce left over, and it worked out better. That time I used the base recipe from the book. Definitely recommend using a meaty meatball and being careful with the sauce!
Rating: :) (second attempt)





Cheeseburger Pizza from Cook The Pantry by Robin Robertson: I really went for some meaty and cheese pizzas last year. I used the pizza dough recipe from the cookbook (it makes enough for two bases, so I froze half for the next time), and it was a super easy dough to make. This recipe uses a cashew cheese sauce on the base, though it could have been a bit thicker. I was worried it was all going to run right off the base! It is topped with some TVP (which I soaked in beef flavoured stock rather than water for more flavour). I also garnished with ketchup, mustard, and gherkin relish.
Rating: :)



BBQ Chickpea Pizza from Cook The Pantry by Robin Robertson: This is a very easy pizza to make. The base is topped with a mix of chickpeas mashed with BBQ sauce, tamari, and mustard (also chiles, but I subbed that with some diced celery). The topping uses two tins of chickpeas, but really you could halve it as it led to an incredibly thick layer. Although not mentioned in the recipe, I topped it with some FYH mozzarella. I'm glad I did because otherwise it would have been a bit samey. I accidentally overcooked the base a bit (in both this recipe and the above one the base is baked for a bit first), but it worked in my favour given the topping was so heavy and a bit sloppy!
Rating: :)



Muffuletta Pizza from Vegan Pizza by Julie Hasson: Base, tomato garlic sauce, olive salad and garlic salad. The olive salad is a mix of three different olives, capers, giardiniera (I used some home made one from 1000 Vegan Recipes as all the store bought ones had chillies in them), and herbs. I found it to be a bit too salty, but I didn't have the right mix of olives (not enough green) so I think the kalamata overpowered it a bit. I also used water rather than olive oil, but even so I found it a bit oily overall (even with leaving off the extra olive oil it suggests to garnish!). The pizza needed some freshness. I only made a half recipe of the olive salad so I could use it all up on the pizza, the recipe says it makes a lot so you will have some left over if you make the whole batch. I did add a little bit of my beloved Fenn smoked sesame cheese on the base before adding the rest of the ingredients, so that adding a nice creamy counterpart to the saltiness.
Rating: :|



Meat-Free Lover's Barbecue Pizza from Taste For Life by Animals Australia: The recipe as written makes two pizzas (including the dough), I halved it for one. The pizza is topped with a mix of tomato paste and BBQ sauce, then cheese (in a shocking twist, I used the Daiya blend shreds), hot dogs (I used Field Roast Frankfurters), and red onion. It is also meant to have chopped sun dried tomatoes, but I realised I was out when I went to get them from the fridge. Garnished with some chives for colour, you can also garnish with a herbed sour cream that I did not make. This was a good pizza, I love BBQ pizzas, could have had some pineapple. But that's just me.
Rating: :)



BBQ Pineapple Pizza from Chloe's Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli: Yes, more BBQ pizza! I skipped the dough recipe in the book (I had made it once before and found it to be kind of runny and sticky) in favour of a pre-made pizza base. I can't get the pre-made dough that the US cookbooks all seem to talk about, and finding vegan pizza bases that are actually good can be tricky as well (WHY ALL THE MILK IN THEM?), but I have found a base that I like now. This is topped with BBQ sauce, BBQ sauce roasted tofu, caramelised onions, and pineapple. No cheese. I knew my base was going to be smaller than the one the book would make, so I just made a half recipe of the BBQ sauce, but still piled on on the toppings! It was a nice combination, especially with the caramelised onions.
Rating: :)



And there endeth the challenge. It was a fun challenge, because I love pizza but I don't make it enough. I got to try a few different recipes for pizza dough as well!

So what does 2019 hold in store for my food blogging challenge? I had a number of thoughts. But then I decided my goal was to have no goal at all. My year hasn't gotten off to the greatest start, so the idea of just being able to go with the flow and not be locked into anything specific is very appealing. But of course I'll still be cooking and eating and blogging!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Pizza Cat!

Recipe Round-Up: Cook The Pantry

I do love my Robin Robertson cookbooks, and Cook The Pantry by Robin Robertson is no exception. It's another one of her books that focuses on easy, quick to make recipes, with the focus on ingredients you should mostly be able to find in your pantry. This is the first time I have posted about this book, and here's what I've been making!

Pantry Pasta Salad: This salad is packed full of beans, artichokes, peas, olives, tomatoes and capers. It also calls for roasted capsicum, but of course I left that out. There are a range of suggested extras you can add, I added extra peas, grated carrots and avocado. I didn't have any celery at the time, but that would be a great addition to give it some crunch. I don't like oily dressings, so I subbed the oil in the lemon-based dressing for some water with guar gum to thicken it a little.
Rating: :)



Chunky Chickpea Sandwiches: I do like chickpea sandwiches. In this case I left out the onion (raw onion doesn't aggree with me) and added in some grated carrot to go along with the celery, I also increased the amount of smoked paprika. It was a little let down by using a sub-par vegan mayo (I had a bottle of Melrose from a vegan box, normally I always use Vegenaise). I enjoyed it on a toasted sandwich with avocado, cheese, spinach, tomato and mayo. It says it makes 2 sandwiches, I had enough filling for 3. It is also nice as a dip with celery sticks.
Rating: :)



Dinnertime Scramble: This tasty scramble calls for 1 cup of frozen onion and capsicum pieces, I just used 1/2 cup of raw onion and no capsicum. As well as onion, it has mushrooms, cheese (I used FYH cheddar shreds) and chopped bacon (I used some Uptons I had in the freezer from a previous US trip). This claims to serve 4, but I got two and a half serves, serving it with some potatoes, greens, tomato and kraut.
Rating: :)



Quick Quinoa Pilaf: I like a higher vegetable to grain ratio in my pilafs, so I decreased the amount of quinoa from one and a half cups to one cup, which provided three big servings. The veggies are onion, pees, carrots and scallions, but you could add other things as well. The toasted almonds give it a lovely crunch, and herbs (I used coriander) give it some freshness. I served this with some baby spinach, roasted green beans and Tofurky chick'n.
Rating: :)



Lemongrass Jasmine Rice with Asparagus: I found that the lemongrass flavour got a bit lost in this, it was very subtle if you really thought about it. I tend to be cursed when it comes to cooking stovetop rice dishes, so I needed to add an extra cup of water and cook for an extra 5 minutes for the rice to cook all the way through. I added some peas, and served it with spinach and tofu, and I got three serves.
Rating: :)



Pantry Bulgur Pilaf: This was a bit bland, but was quite good with some nooch mixed in. Bulgur is mixed with carrots, scallions, cranberries and almonds. I added some peas and chickpeas for bulk, and served it with some spinach. I used 3/4 cup of bulgur rather than 1 cup, and adjusted the stock accordingly.
Rating: :|



Tofu and Broccoli Stir-Fry: I love tofu and veggies. I added extra broccoli, grated carrot and peas, used raw onion instead of frozen and skipped the capsicum, and used bamboo instead of water chestnuts. I doubled the sauce (though used the same amounts of oil and sugar), which led to quite a saucy dish! Served with baby spinach and brown rice.
Rating: :)



Tuscan Chickpea Frittata: This says it serves 1-2, and I ate the whole thing. It is chickpea flour based, and I have terrible luck with flipping large chickpea pancakes. As always, it broke up so I ended up portioning it up to finish cooking it. I also added parsley to the batter, as well as the tomatoes, olives and spinach.
Rating: :)



Black Bean Picadillo: I love the mix of olives and raisins in picadillo, and this was no exception. I left out the roasted capsicum, but everything else was made as is. I got three servings, rather than four. This tends to be a theme... I guess I have a big appetite!
Rating: :)



Red Beans and Quinoa with Chipotle Queso: The star of this recipe is the cashew-based queso, which is very nice. I used a sprinkle of chipotle powder, rather than an actual chipotle, so I could keep the heat mild. It did get a bit thick and overheated in my super fast blender, so I thinned it out with a bit of extra milk. Again, I decreased the amount of quinoa from one and a half cups to one cup (adjusting the stock accordingly), and I left out the chiles. I added a bit of parsley for colour, as I had some that needed using up, and I served it with green beans and spinach.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Aurora, living up to her Sleeping Beauty inspired name. She went to her forever family yesterday! We miss her around the clinic, but so happy that she has found her home.