Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Vittles

The first edition of Vegan Vittles has a special place in my heart. It was one of my earlier cookbooks, and really introduced me to the joys of homemade vegan meats, cheese, and other tasty treats. It also has super cute photos and stories about animals at Farm Sanctuary, which is really sweet. Being one of my older books, I had already made quite a few recipes before I started taking food photos, so these days I am doing a mix of remaking some to get photos, as well as trying new recipes. You can see other posts I have made about this book here.

Oven-Roasted Tom Tofu with Golden Gravy: This is just a bowl of comfort. The tofu is marinated in a tasty broth (including soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and lots of seasoning), then coated in a mix of cornmeal, flour, nutritional yeast, and more seasoning. The marinade called for poultry seasoning, which I didn't have, so I just left it out. The tofu is baked until crunchy. I found it a little dry, but that also made it perfect for covering with gravy. (While I made another gravy recipe from the book to serve with this, you can also make a gravy with leftover marinade. I did this the next day. Just saute some onion and mushrooms, add the leftover marinade, and thicken with cornflour). But back to the gravy of the night, the Golden Gravy. This is super easy to make, and is based on flour and nutritional yeast with soy sauce and seasonings added. As you see, I served it all over mashed potato and some steamed green beans.
Rating: Tofu :), Gravy :)



Extended Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is pricey here, at least AU$7/250mL. So when a recipe calls for a lot, you have to think about what is going in there. I was making some stuff for a bake sale, and thought I might try making this extended maple syrup to help with costs a little bit. It is a mix of water, maple syrup, and cornstarch to thicken. Not surprisingly, while it is quite sweet the maple flavour was fairly subtle. I think when I try it again I will add a few drops of maple extract as well. But it worked well in the recipe (in which I also used a bit of normal maple syrup, so there was lots of maple flavour in it), and is a good way for cutting some costs!
Rating: :)



Banana Chocolate Shake: This is so fast and so easy, using frozen banana as the creamy and cold aspect. There is also the option to make this with carob instead of cocoa powder, but as I prefer food that doesn't taste like dirt I chose the latter.
Rating: :D



Fruit Smoothie: I've made this recipe a couple of times. It is very simple, and you can switch up the juice and fruit as you feel like it. For this one I used some Impressed Jack Rose Juice (which is apple, strawberry, and mint), a frozen banana (the mandatory ingredient), and frozen mangoes and raspberries. It is sweet and refreshing, though not very filling.
Rating: :)



Spinach Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette: A simple salad of spinach, mushrooms, and grated carrot (which I used instead of raw red onion), that is tossed with a vinaigrette and topped with some bacon bits. There is a recipe for bacon bits in the book, but I just used some store-bought ones for ease. The vinaigrette itself is based on orange juice. The recipe calls for a mix of OJ concentrate and water, but I can't get OJ concentrate here (only fruit drink concentrate, which is mostly sugar) so I just used straight up OJ for all of it. It also has some Asian flavours as well, which is lovely.
Rating: :)



Spaghetti with Meaty Mushroom Sauce: I love how my older cookbooks use a lot of TVP, I feel that you don't see it as much now days. Everything is ground seitan or store bought vegan mince, but TVP wins my heart. This is a great, savoury, satisfying sauce based on TVP and mushrooms, served over spaghetti. It looks simple, but is totally delicious.
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of missing loved ones, I can't believe it has been over seven and a half years since I had to say goodbye to my sweet Gizmo.

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Vittles

It's been a while since I have done a recipe round-up, but I still have a million photos to share so it is time to get back on that... not a horse... back on that bench? Today's book, Vegan Vittles, was one of my earlier books. The link above will take you to the second edition, but I just have the first one. I still have a special place in my heart for this book. I made my first scramble with it, my first 'ribs', my first 'pot roast', my first cheese sauces... you can see other blog posts I've done for this book by clicking here.

Chocolate Milk: This simple recipe gives the option of using cocoa or carob... because I think carob is basically like eating dirt, I chose cocoa. I made this with hazelnut milk, and that is a very good thing to do.
Rating: :)



Breakfast Tofu Scramble: I loved this recipe so much when I first made it, I apparently thought it was just like eggs. I've since made it again, and it doesn't really (which is a good thing, eggs are gross), but I still love it as a scramble. Served here breakfast plate style with kale, hashbrowns, tomatoes and cheezy sauce.
Rating: :D



Banana Flapjacks: This is quite a thick batter, and I found it hard to cook all the way through without it starting to burn on the edges, so you might want to thin it out just a little bit with some extra liquid. It is a very simple recipe, and the flavour comes from mashed banana. Great with maple syrup! But small on the serving sizes.
Rating: :)



Sadie's Vitality Broth: This soup will cure what ails you if you are a bit under the weather. It has pasta and chickpeas, but most importantly a very yummy noochy broth.
Rating: :)



Hungarian Mushroom Soup: A combination of mushrooms, dill and paprika, three of my favourite things. It yields about '1 quart'... oh imperial measurements... that works out to about two servings.
Rating: :)



Tofu Marinade #5: The book includes a whole list of marinades for tofu, tempeh or seitan. This is marinade number 5, which has soy, lemon, ginger, garlic and sesame.
Rating: :)



Spicy Peanut Sauce: Finally for today, a couple of things to do with spicy peanut sauce. This is a very rich sauce, which is great as a hot dish or over cold noodles and salad. Hilariously, in my notes I have written 'could be spicier', which I would never write these days. Funny how our tastes change over time!
Rating: :)





I've actually made heaps from this book, but a lot of it was before I started taking photos. Kind of inspired to remake some of my favourite things from it after looking through it again, and see if they stand up to the test of time!

Do you have any favourite cookbooks from years ago?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Toes!

Vegan MoFo 2011 #4: 'Vegan Vittles'

Vegan Vittles
Joanne Stepaniak, Book Publishing Company, 1996



Vegan Vittles is a really great little gem of a cookbook. I remember buying it, it was from a bookshop in Sydney in the city. I bought it, and then spent some time sitting in the foodcourt reading through with eager eyes.The book is a paperback with a special lay-flat binding. It does work, though over time my binding has started to fall apart a little. There are no photos of the food, but each chapter starts off with a black and white photo of a critter from Farm Sanctuary, along with a beautiful story about their rescue and new happy lives. The book also has lots of cute little sayings throughout, where they take a common animal-based saying (such as 'Slippery as an eel') and replace it with an animal free version ('slippery as oil'). Recipes are set out nicely,and have serving sizes and nutritional information. Many recipes also have variations listed, and 'The Cook's Secret' tidbits have information on using ingredients.

Chapters include Tips & Tails (Handy Hints & Basic Recipes), Beverages, Breakfasts & Breads, Uncheeses, Butters & Spreads, Hearty Soups & Stews, Salads & Dressings, Sandwiches, The Main Dish, Sauces, Gravies & Condiments, and Happy Endings. The front section of the book also has a section about being vegan, substituting for animal products,a glossary of ingredients and suggestions for daily menus. As well as a general index, the book also has an index arranged by main ingredients. This is really nifty if you are looking for a recipe to use something up. The Tips and Tails section has seitan and bacon recipes, as well as a pie crust and an extended maple syrup.

Now, on to photos of some of my favourite recipes.

Tempeh Bacon


My first ever Tempeh Bacon recipe, and an introduction to one of my favourite things. Before tempeh bacon, I had to buy expensive vegan bacon products, none of which really hit the spot. Tempeh bacon is essential!

Hickory Bits


I know that some of the 'bacon bits' you can buy are vegan, but the thought of them freak me out. The colours and flavours! Thankfully, I need never brave those waters again. These were my first homemade bacon bits.

Breakfast Tofu Scramble


I have enthusiastically scrawled on the sticky note for this recipe 'colour and taste of eggs!' This was the first scramble to grace my little taste buds in many a year. In fact now I know it is way better than eggs could hope to be. Seriously, why would you even eat eggs which you could eat delicious scramble? This is a simple little scramble recipe - nooch, salt and pepper make up the seasonings with a pinch of turmeric and some grate carrot for colour.

Muffins That Taste Like Donuts


They really do! Around the time I started getting into my cookbooks, I also started firing up my love of baking, and I started making sure I always had yummy baked goods around to take to uni for lunch or for snacking on. These are some very tasty little morsels. My favourite donut is the cinnamon sugar donut, and these really hit the spot flavour wise.

Banana Tea Loaf


This is a pretty amazing little loaf, and makes a great gift as well. Vegan Vittles introduced me to apple juice concentrate as a sweetener, and this is used in this recipe. It is studded with pecans (well, walnuts technically, but I am not a fan) and currants.

Onion Lover's Chip Dip


Every Christmas, my mother would make a french onion dip. It involves cream cheese, french onion soup mix powder, some green shallots and some ham. I loved the oniony flavour of it. This captures that taste so wonderfully, minus the dairy and the ham (though I'm sure you could add some chopped vegan ham if you wished, I prefer it straight up all onions!).


Unstuffed Shells


This is easy and yummy. Cook pasta, make ricotta style stuffing, mix together with tomato sauce on top. Make sure your ricotta is at room temperature before making (or make with room temperature tofu), otherwise it won't heat up well when you toss with the pasta. You can also heat it over very low heat while mixing with the pasta, but make sure not to brown it. I like extra sauce for mine, as well.


Pot Roast


The thought of having a delicious vegan pot roast had never even crossed my mind until I had this book. While I believe that VWAV taught me how to make seitan, this book has some great ways to use it! Like this yummy pot roast. I found when cooking it that you needed to be careful that the sauce didn't dry out, so have some extra stock on hand in case you need it. The gravy is amazing. And leftovers make an awesome sandwich.


Barbecue-Style Braised Short'Ribs'


Having mastered the pot roast (not that it is particularly hard to master!), these BBQ ribs were next in my sights. Again, they are very easy to make, and highly delicious. Especially served with some mashed sweet potato and soy-sauce sauteed broccolini. This recipe makes 6 ribs, and these ribs are very filling. One rib will do you right, unless you opt to forgo the vegetables!

Some other amazing recipes from this book that don't have pictures:

Cool Fools
Pecan Sticky Buns (my first ever homemade stickbuns... OMG)
Oven-Roasted Tom Tofu
Velvety Cheese Sauce
Ultra-Fudgey Fudge Brownies
Aunt Bunny's Carrot Cake (with Creme Cheeze Frosting)

This book is also memorable because it introduced me to my first versions of what I now would consider vegan staples, but at the time were very exciting to finally be able to make myself. Things such as Eggless Omlets, Phenomenal French Toast, Banana Flapjacks, Almond Cream Cheese, Mayo and Sour Cream.

This book really is great, even all these years on. They have since released a new edition with even more recipes. I don't have this new one yet, as I get kind of annoyed when people re-release previous books with a few new recipes, meaning that you need to go and buy it again. New cookbooks with new recipes, peoples! Anyway, if you don't have it you should buy it if you get the chance. It's pretty groovy.


What cookbook (or cookbooks) taught you the basics of homemade vegan staples?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Possum is looking with his hopeful face. Someone must be eating something at the table that he hopes to get his chompers on!

Goodbye Little Brother... Again.

Last year my little brother moved to London. He came back for Christmas and stayed for several weeks. I have already posted about Christmas, but there were several other fun times to be shared.

Cooking for Melissa and Tnee

Greg's best friend Tnee and his wife, Melissa, came over for dinner with their little bub Ella. Greg put the menu together, and I helped out as well.


The main part of dinner was Pasta Norma, which was a naturally vegan recipe from an omni Italian cookbook Greg brought home from London, which was a big plate of penne pasta with tomatoes and eggplant. Very yummy! The eggplant, instead of being cooked in the sauce, was sauteed separately and mixed in at the last minute, and retained a great texture and taste. Greg chose to serve Cos lettuce leaves as well and we made the Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette from 1000 Vegan Recipes. Also on the plate, from the same trusty tome, are some Mushrooms Stuffed with Spinach and Walnuts, which were lovely. However the stuffing seemed to make two to three times more than would fit in the mushrooms!


Dessert was Grilled Orange and Strawberry Skewers from 1000 Vegan Recipes. I wasn't able to grill in the American sense, so I grilled in the Australian sense, which is broiling in the American sense. Delicious fruit marinated in Grand Marnier and then cooked, which I served with ice cream.

A Fleeting Moment In Time - Greg's Concert

My brother is an awesome jazz musician, and he is considered a 'son' of the Brisbane Jazz Club. He had one gig when he was back in the country, and this was it. The BJC itself is situated on the bank of the Brisbane river, and was swamped in the floods, so the event was held at a venue in the Valley. Hopefully lots of money was raised during the night to help them with rebuilding.

Before the gig, my parents and I went to Loving Hut for some vegan pre-show noms.


We started with a plate of Hearty Nuggets, which are just crispy tasty little morsels of vegan protein.


I also enjoyed my favourite Loving Hut drink, the Iced Chai. Delicious!


My mum had the Seven Seas Delight, which is one of my favourites. Vegan protein wrapped in seaweed and smothered in a lively sweet/salty sauce. Served with rice, chilled broccoli and pickled vegetables.


Dad had Crispy Chow Mein, beefy-style protein and vegetables in sauce serve over crispy noodles. Yummy.


I tried something new on the menu - lasagne! And it was goooooood. The creamy sauce was so tasty. I love a vegan lasagne! Not pictured here is my dessert, which was a passionfruit cheesecake. My favourite of their flavours.

Then we headed off the to the gig, which was awesome. It is very special seeing your brother playing so well in front of a packed out venue. Oh, and remember how I said we had his friends Tnee and Melissa over? They happen to also be amazing jazz musicians - Tnee on instrumentals and Melissa with her amazing voice! Check out Melissa's website to find out more!


Here he is, playing on his bass. Super cool.

Farewell Dinner

I made Greg a farewell dinner for his last night. Given his love of Italian food, I chose the Italian Menu from 1000 Vegan Recipes.


First up was Classic Crostini with Black and Green Olive Tapenade. I added some chopped tomato to some of them for a bit of a change. The crostini is essentially baked (toasted) baguette slices. The tapenade is very easy to make (according to my mother who made it, I had to duck into the clinic for a cat emergency).


I couldn't make the salad required by the menu, because I could not find any radicchio. Woe. So instead I made a salad of baby greens and cherry tomatoes and served it with this Italian Dressing from Vegan Vittles, which was light and tangy and a little sweet. Good stuff.


The main was Ziti with Abruzzese Vegetable Ragu, which was loads of penne (I made the whole pound because there were five eating, with lots left over, normally I would use 250g pasta and just have it extra saucy) served with a red wine and tomato sauce with onions, carrots and yellow capsicum - yes, capsicum! Chopped small and stewed the yellow kind is not too bad and didn't hurt my tummy.


Dessert was Sweet Polenta with Grilled Pineapple and Strawberry Sauce, which was very handy to make ahead. The sweet polenta is cooked then chilled in a pan for several hours. I actually grilled the pineapple early in the day on the George Foreman grill and then reheated it in the oven with the polenta. The polenta did not go golden brown, even with a slight increase in temperature. Also, the strawberry sauce takes about three seconds to make.

Goodbye


And then he was gone. *sniff* Here he is heading off at the airport to his flight. The upshot of this is that I was up at 4am today to get him to this flight. I am looking forward to a good sleep tonight!


To console myself, I made this Tapenade and Tomato Pizza from 1000 Vegan Recipes for lunch. It used some left over tapenade and is on one of the yummy fresh vegan pizza bases I get from the local deli. It was nom.

So there he goes, off for another year. Right now he should be approaching his stop over in Korea.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Our sweet old boy Possum, stopping to smooch some violets in the front yard. Too beautiful.

(% '1000 Vegan Recipes' Blogged: 8.9%)

Information on QLD Flood Relief.

VeganMoFo 2009 #2: Recipe Round-Up - Veganomicon

Hello happy MoFoers! Day two have arrived, and I have been busy trying to keep up with all the amazing posts going on today! I have been delighted by all the delicious food and lovely stories people have been sharing. The bloglines feed isn't working too well for me, so I am in the painstaking process of adding every MoFo blog to my Google Reader (the export doesn't work for me either). I have just finished adding blogs that start with the letter C! Rest assured, I will be adding everyone and reading and commenting as much as possible.

I wish I had a snazzy theme for my VeganMoFo, some people are being so clever and creative! I have just not been that organised, so I will continue with my regular random blogging and just keep up the frequency.

Today I thought I would do a round-up of some Veganomicon recipes I have been making lately. Vcon is the book that just keeps on giving, as you can see by looking at these delicious dinners...


This is Curried Udon Noodle Stir-Fry, which is absolutely delicious and wonderful and should be made by everyone now and then often. I would strongly suggest using dried udon noodles rather than the ones that are sold soft, the texture is so much better! Chewy and fabulous instead of smushy.


The star of this dinner was Israeli Couscous with Pistachio and Apricots and it was my first time using Israeli couscous. It is fantastic, a really nice texture. I found the overall flavour of it to be quite subtle, and some might find it a little bland. But that is easily changed by adjusting the seasonings. And did I mention the texture? Also on the plate are some roasted sweet potato, roasted asparagus and some baked tofu that had been marinated in one of the Vegan Vittles marinades.


This was such a fun dinner! Firstly, there were Tamarind Lentils, which are delicious and tangy. This was my second time making these, the first time I had used the wrong sort of tamarind - it was more the pulp than a puree or concentrate and still contained seeds (which I didn't realised) so eating it was a danger for all teeth. This time though I had my nice smooth concentrate, so it was fantastic! There is also Sauteed Spinach and Tomatoes, which is simple and fast and a lovely way to get some greens in. But what is that pile of green goop? It is Cilantro-Pureed Rutabaga (or Coriander-Pureed Swede for those of us in Australia). Absolutely delicious! I found that I had to process the mix quite a while for the cilantro to distribute enough to give that lovely green colour. Finishing off the meal was some basmati rice.


For a cold winter's day, a big bowl of Cholent really hits the spot. By favourite part of this was the large TVP chunks, which take on a ridiculously tasty, slightly chewy texture and just made me want to eat it all day! With big chunks of potato and carrots, plus some peas and lentils - how could anyone go wrong?


This was a quick dinner I made before having to go and be on call (blergh) at the clinic. It is Pasta e Fagioli, which is easy to make and has a fantastic fresh taste. It also taught me about plum tomatoes. I had always assumed they were roma tomatoes, which it turns out is correct! Apparently because they are less juicy and seedy than other types it makes them ideal for canning and sauce making. Learning and growing is fun! Next to it is a Caesar Salad from Vegan Vittles, which was lovely. I had already made the caesar from Vcon, so wanted to try another version. It was good, but the Vcon one does have that edge with the garlic croutons!


Say hello to Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle, though us Australians would call broccoli rabe broccolini instead. This was actually the VERY FIRST thing I ever made from Vcon! I revisited it again last week, and was reminded why I had given it a five star rating - it is fantastic! I served it along side Pear and Endive Salad with Maple Candied Pecans. This was my first time using belgian endive, which is also sold as witlof here depending on which shop you go to. It is a really nice flavour - a slight bitterness, but quite a lot of moisture and really great. The sweetness of the pear and the candied pecans really combined well. The only thing I would suggest is that when making the candied pecans, you really don't need the whole 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Only pour in as much as it looks like you need. Maple syrup is way too expensive to be wasting, or at least it is in Australia!

Cute Cat Photo of the Post

This is actually two cute photos. This little guy came in to the clinic to be castrated. These photos were taken later than afternoon, after he had woken up. Obviously he is still a bit groggy! They have been taken through the bars on his cage so as not to disturb him.


No, he is not licking his surgery site. He has actually fallen asleep with his nose down there!


But he did wake up to have a little stretch! Hee.

Keep up the VeganMoFo-ing, it is fantastic!