Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

Finally finishing my current round-up from Cookin' Crunk by Bianca Phillips. You can see my other posts about this book here.

Brown-Sugar Baked Ham with Caramelised Cabbage and Onion: I have made this ham recipe twice, because the first time I realised that I only put in 1 tsp of brown sugar instead of 1 TBS! Ooops. Definitely make sure to get that right. The marinade is very easy to make. The actual recipe in the book uses leftover marinade to make a coffee gravy, but as I am coffe adverse I skipped this and used a normal gravy. I also served it with the cabbage and onion dish. This one is quite sweet (it does have sugar in it) but very nice. Excellent with some roasted potatoes and the salty gravy.
Rating: Tofu Ham :), Cabbage and Onion :)



Chocolate Gravy: This is easy to make and sort of a cross between a chocolate sauce and a chocolate pudding. The book suggests serving it over some buttermilk biscuits (recipe also in the book), but I took an easier route and served it over some pancakes (purchased ready made and heated in the oven), vanilla yoghurt, and berries.
Rating: :)



Bringing Home the Tempeh Bacon: This bacon has a lovely marinade that includes hoisin sauce (yum) and is very easy to put together. There is heaps of marinade, so I froze the leftovers to make future batches. I served this bacon so many ways. Over some mac and cheese, in a BLT, and snacked right on its own.
Rating: :)





No-Tell Ro*Tel Cheese Dip: I've never had the original before, but this is a vegan silken tofu based version. I love a silken tofu based dip or sauce. I did use plain tomatoes instead of tomatoes with green chiles. It came together super fast, and thickens up very well on the stove. Instead of serving it as a dip, I used it to make nachos.
Rating: :)



BBQ 'Pulled' Tempeh and Carrot: This is meant to be made as a sandwich filling, alongside some crunchy coleslaw. But I switched it up and turned it into a bowl instead. It is really easy to make, with crumbled tempeh, grated carrots, and BBQ sauce the main features. I served it over some rice, spinach, and roasted carrots and drizzled with some more BBQ sauce and a creamy bottled dressing.
Rating: :)



And there ends this current go through of Cookin' Crunk! I really wanted to get it wrapped up today, because I have an exciting week coming up. Tomorrow my friends Molly and Helen (and Molly's friend Sharnette) are arriving from the US to come and visit me for a a week! I haven't seen Molly in 6 years since she was last here, and it has been even longer since I visited Helen in Seattle. I had a longstanding plan that after Dim Sim passed, I was going to drop everything and take off to Seattle to cry on Helen's couch for a few months, but COVID ruined that coping strategy. I will of course share our adventures on the blog.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Eloise, lying on her back, looking at the ceiling fan.

Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

Just a little post today, I wasn't sure if I'd blog at all, but I got some late Sunday afternoon motivation to do a little something. This is a few recipes from my continuing adventures through Cookin' Crunk by Bianca Phillips. See other recipes from this book I've posted about here.

Creamy Squash Casserole and Tofu Chicken: The tofu chicken recipe book in this good is great - such a good marinade! I had lots of marinade in left over, so I froze it for future tofu chicken adventures. I didn't have adobo seasoning or poultry seasoning though, so I used a mix of garlic and onion powders, salt, chili-free cajun spice blend, celery seeds, and sage. It worked a treat. I served it with some Creamy Squash Casserole, which has rice and summer squash (I used zucchini). This is recipe looks very simple, but it is absolutely delicious!
Rating: Tofu :), Casserole :D



Unfried Corn: This is a quick recipe that uses frozen corn kernals (very handy). It is quite sweet, so I would decrease the amount of sugar in it substantially next time (it is only 1.5 tsp, but alongside the sweet corn that is quite a bit). The corn is cooked in a creamy soy-milk mixture, which is simmered off. I served it with some BBQ tofu and some green beans.
Rating: :)



Baked Curried Sweet Tater Fries: These were some very nice fries! I took the option to bake them, rather than deep fry, because I don't like deep frying stuff. I made the seasoning me-friendly by using mild curry powder, smoked paprika to replace the cayenne powder, and some extra salt. Great alongside a burger.
Rating: :)



Mama's Mac and Tomatoes: This is pretty simple, with macaroni and fresh tomatoes and basil. It is also really good! The tomatoes make this incredible broth. You definitely want to make sure that you are using the best tomatoes you can for this. I served it with some herby tofu and roasted broccoli.
Rating: :)



Vanilla Spice Cupcakes: These are an easy to make cupcake recipe, that go great however you want to serve them. The recipe in the book pairs them with a pumpkin buttercream. I was making these for pink-themed bake sale, so instead I filled them with strawberry jam and topped them with pink strawberry flavoured buttercream.
Rating: :)



This would have been my final Cookin' Crunk post, but I have a few tempeh things I want to make on my week off that I have coming up, so I have saved a couple of other photos to go along with that. Stay tuned!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Eloise being a little bunny baby having a nap with my black cat face cushion on my bed.

Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

Popping back with another post about Cookin' Crunk, by Bianca Phillips. See previous posts about this book here.

Mess o' Greens with Turnips and Granny's Corn Casserole: I rounded out this meal with some Field Roast meatloaf that was lingering in my freezer. The slowly simmered turnips were so lovely! I cannot get collard greens or mustard greens here. I probably should have gone for kale, but I took the easier option of baby spinach that I ended just in the last few minutes. The casserole was lovely and creamy (thanks to cream cheese). I left out the pimentos and chiles, and added some celery, to keep it mild.
Rating: Turnips :), Casserole :)



Seitan Beef Stew: This is great for cold weather! Instead of seitan, I used big TVP chunks that softened up wonderfully during cooking and absorbed all the flavour. I used baby spinach instead of kale for the greens.
Rating: :)



Seitan Tips over Brown Rice: I used some beef-style strips in this recipe, which came together very quickly. I used carrot and celery instead of capsicum, as per usual. It also has mushrooms in it, and has a great savoury taste. I got three serves out of this, served over brown rice as instructed.
Rating: :)



Eggplant and Sausage Jambalaya: I took the easy route with this recipe, and after sauteeing the vegetables I threw everything in the rice cooker (except the sausages) and forgot about it until dinner time, which was great! I used some Field Roast sausages, and zucchini instead of capsicum, and I also left out the spicy parts. The sausages are slices, sauteed, and added at the end.
Rating: :)



Cheesy Broccoli-Rice Casserole: This lovely recipe combines mushrooms soup and cheesy sauce (both recipes are also in the book) for a great creamy outcome. You do need to have cooked brown rice for this recipe, so plan ahead. I decreased the amount of brown rice from two cups to one and a half cups because I was using some leftovers and that is what I had.
Rating: :)



Creamy Tofu Chicken Pasta Bake: There is a great recipe for tofu chicken in the book, which is part of this recipe,though I did find the flavour of the tofu chicken got lost a bit once it was all baked. This also uses the mushroom soup recipe as a base, mixed with some diced tomatoes. It is topped with just nutritional yeast, which is great because I love it.
Rating: :)



I'd like to talk about something completely different at the end of this post - music! My favourite musician Jenny Owen Youngs has just released a new album called Avalanche, and it is INCREDIBLE. If you like beautiful, emotional music, please check it out. You will cry. You can stream it in all the streaming places, or you can buy it on Bandcamp!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Mirabelle contemplating life from within a paper bag.

Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

My how time flies. It has been almost four weeks between posts? Not intentional, but just things happening. Nothing of note happened, just, you know, things. But let's get back to some recipe round-ups! It has been ages since I have done one, and we are ready to move on to a new cookbook. This series of round-ups will be coming from Cookin' Crunk, written by Bianca Phillips of Vegan Crunk blog fame! See other posts about this book here

Tangy Tempeh Chops with Mashed Sweet Taters: The tempeh chops recipe was meant to have green peppers in it, but no way, I used some extra celery. I made half the recipe and got one very satisfying serving. The sauce has a bunch of things in it, including ketchup! The mashed sweet taters looked suspiciously too sweet when I read the recipe... maple syrup and nutmeg? But actually they were not too sweet, and had a lovely flavour that was the perfect companion for the tangy tempeh. I made a quarter of a recipe for one serve. All served over some baby spinach.
Rating: Tempeh :), Sweet Potato :)



Creamy Tahini Sauce: This was absolutely delicious! I did switch it up a little by just using a few drops of sesame oil and using water for the rest of the tablespoon it called for, but I find a tiny bit of sesamy oil goes a long way. This is used in one of the recipes in the book, but I served it over some brown rice, roasted broccoli, and sauteed tofu for an old-school vegan bowl.
Rating: :D



Sweet 'n' Savoury Marinated Tofu: This is a variation given in the book for the sweet 'n' spicy tofu, but no spicy here. This variation switches out the sriracha for ginger. And it is sooooo good! I scaled the recipe down a bit as my block of tofu was only 300g rather than 450g, but I wish I had the bigger block because this tofu is incredible! I did use some of it in sandwiches, but I also used some of it just for eating straight up.
Rating: :D



Tofu Cottage Cheese: This recipe is very simple to make, but then has a bunch of different uses. Bianca recommends spreading it on toast with Marmite, so I put it on toast with Vegemite. Vegemite is Marmite's superior Australian equivalent. So salty, so good. I also added some fresh tomato slices. This was excellent for breakfast or for lunch.
Rating: :)



Cheese Tofu Scramble: I am a simple woman, and at the end of the day I love a tofu scramble over any vegan-egg based scramble. Tofu is my truest food love. This is a great savory flavoured cheese scramble. I used celery, mushrooms, and spinach as the vegetables. I browned the tofu first, before adding in the flavouring mixture. A lovely version of a classic.
Rating: :)



Tofu Scramble Enchiladas: I switched this up a bit to suit my own tastes, replacing the chili powder with paprika, leaving out the salsa, and using wheat tortillas rather than corn tortillas. What we got was a lovely casserole of saucy, cheesy, tofu filled enchiladas that was just as good for dinner as they would have been for breakfast.
Rating: :)



Dill Weed Potato Salad: A fun twist on a potato salad, this has pimento olives in it! I have never had a potato salad with olives in it before, but it definitely works. I left out the raw onion and the jalapeno. I used dried dill for this, as the recipe called for, but if I had fresh dill I would definitely have used that instead.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Month



The 7th of September was Mirabelle's one year adoptiversary!

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.