Recipe Round-Up: The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur

Is there anyone who doesn't like cookies? The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza is full of all sorts of cookie recipes, from the simple to the more complicated, and ranging from the classics to the inventive.

PB&J Thumbprints: Thumbprint cookies are cute and always welcome, but to make them even better add peanut butter! Peanut butter cookie dough and jam are perfect. Kelly suggests raspberry and blueberry jams, my blueberry jam was just too runny, so I only made raspberry. Though I bet strawberry would be super as well, which is my favourite jam for PB&J sandwiches. I got 19 cookies out of this recipe (it says makes 16-20), and needed to cook for another few minutes.
Rating: :)



Chinese Almond Cookies: These are one of the standout recipes of this book for me. They are crunchy yet chewy, and are satisfyingly large. The recipe said it makes 13-15 palm-sized cookies, though I only got 9 cookies, and I have pretty little hands (though maybe I have small wrists and small fingers but freakish palms?). I found the dough a bit dry, so needed to add a few splashes of oat milk to bring it together.
Rating: :D



Orange Chocolate Chunk Cookies: Chocolate chip cookies are the comfort food of the cookie world, and this recipe gives a lovely twist with an orange-flavoured dough and satisfying chocolate chunks. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup or about 6oz chocolate chunks, I found that 6oz was a lot more than 3/4 cup. The recipe said it makes 16 cookies, but I got 24. I needed to bake for about 20 minutes instead of 10 to get them firm enough to stay together.
Rating: :)



Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies: These are another outstanding cookie! Lemon poppy seed is one of my favourite flavours of muffin, but it also makes for a great cookie! The lemon flavour here comes entirely from lemon zest, but it really shines through. I first made these cookies for a cookie and DVD day, and they have been requested again since!
Rating: :D



Vanilla Thumbprints: Yes, more thumbprints! These are the classic vanilla cookie, but Kelly suggests going to town with any jam flavour you can think of! I made it with a mix of raspberry, apricot and blueberry (which as you can see, was a bit runny). They look so pretty, like a sparkling jewel box! All the jam flavours were great with it.
Rating: :)



Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies: Gluten-free friends don't have to miss out when I bake-and-bring. I brought these along to a board gaming night, and they were enjoyed by people of all dietary persuasions. This recipe uses a mix of white rice flour, soy flour and cornstarch as the flour base. It was quite a hard dough initially, so I added a few splashes of soy milk. I only ended up using 1/2 cup chocolate chips rather than 3/4 cup, which was plenty.
Rating: :)



Ginger Snaps: These are some great, crunchy, gingery cookies. The recipe said it makes 19 cookies, but I made a half batch and got 19 cookies, so I am not sure how that all worked out. I made these cookies to take along for a christmas bowling gathering, and they were well received!
Rating: :)



Oatmeal Scotchies: Another bake and bring recipe, I took this along to an election night gathering last weekend where they got good reviews. Last year I managed to finally get my hands on four bottles of vegan butterscotch chips, and this was the first time I had used them. I ate a few out of the bottle and holy heck so sweet, turns out I do not really like butterscotch chips! However thankfully when baked into some butterscotch and oat cookie dough the sweetness mellows out.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Valerie and Abbey snuggling together. Valerie is a sweet little adoption kitten, the last left of her litter. Abbey is our beautiful clinic cat, who will be 18 years old in a week and a half. In the past Abbey has loved having a kitten to snuggle with, but it has been quite a while since we have had kittens. They are so sweet together.

Recipe Round-Up: The Garden of Vegan

It's been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently, as I have been stuck down by the plague (well, actually more a respiratory virus, but plague sounds more dramatic) and have not been up to much other than mainlining episodes of Veronica Mars.

The Garden of Vegan is a book that I haven't used much lately, but that I used to use all the time. It has some pretty solid recipes in there, though as always there are some misses as well.

Portobello Mushroom Bake with Swiss Chard and Garlic: The portobello mushroom bake is a very rich dish, with a sauce made of almonds, oil, Braggs, water, vinegar and spices. Onions are also roasted with the mushrooms, which give a sweet countpoint. Served over rice, and with lots of greens on the side. The swiss chard (or silverbeet in Australia) recipe is pretty simple. It calls for sauteeing garlic, then putting raw silverbeet on top and leaving covered for a couple of minutes. I prefer my silverbeet a little less raw, so I cooked it for a couple of minutes then let it sit
Rating: Bake :), Swiss Chard :)



Quick Museli: I love museli, and I love putting different things together to make new museli flavours. This has lots of oats, wheat bran and germ, plus fruit and nuts. Their recipe called for walnuts, but I am not a fan of them, so I used pistachios and pepitas instead.
Rating: :)



Wishful Thinking Mango Smoothie: Mango, yoghurt, water and some spices combine to make this drink. I used less water than the recipe calls for because otherwise it would be too watery and runny for my tastes. I made this with fresh mango, but these days I would use frozen because I prefer my smoothies to be icy and thick.
Rating: :)



Hummus and Veggie Sandwich: This sandwich is pretty straightforward, though I skipped the red onion because I don't like raw onion breath. I used a bought hummus for this, but there is also a recipe in the book for hummus if you prefer. The sandwich has gomashio on it, which adds a nice salty crunch.
Rating: :)



Delightful Rice Salad with Olives & Sun-Dried Tomatoes: This is a flavourful salad with a blended tomato-vinegar-herb dressing. It keeps well for lunches.
Rating: :)



Sweet Pepper Balsamic Bean Salad: I don't know what I was thinking when I made this, because capsicum, that I made, and I ate. What? I don't know. Anyway, I roasted all the capsicum first (the yellow one is meant to be raw), which I guess made it a little better. I seemed to have liked this. I honestly don't know what was happening.
Rating: :) (though I may have been possessed at the time, because capsicum is gross)



Claire's Red and Racy Potato Salad: This salad is nice and creamy and quite sweet because of the grapes. It goes really well over some baby spinach.
Rating: :)



Awesome Asian Noodle Salad: I used udon noodles for this (they are chewy and great) and upped the number of vegetables in proportion to the noodles. I also used zucchini and squash instead of capsicum.
Rating: :)



Aunt Bonnie's Chickpea Salad: Aunt Bonnie seems to have contributed a lot of great recipes, she sounds like a cool aunt. This tasty salad is full of lots of fresh vegetables, as well as olives. It is yum. It says it makes 2-4 servings, I got four lunches from it.
Rating: :)



Perfectly Amazing Pasta Salad: This salad includes tomatoes, olives, artichokes and parsley. Also capsicum, but I used peas instead. The dressing has lots of ingredients, and is quite tasty, though I prefer the fresher tasting Amazing Grace salad from this book to this recipe. I used grated cheezly on top.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This cute little girl was staying with us at the clinic, and here she is showing off her racing ears. Her ears don't actually look like that, but she was rubbing her head through Pip's hand and they both flipped back like this. She is streamlined and ready to race!

Recipe Round-Up: The Complete Vegan Cookbook

The Complete Vegan Cookbook was one of my earliest vegan cookbooks. I don't use it quite as much anymore, but I still dip in and out of it from time to time.

Zucchini Stuffed with Mushroom Quinoa in Tomato Coulis and Baked Tofu: Zucchini is stuffed with sherry-laced shiitake mushrooms, garlic, onions, button mushrooms and herbs. I left out the capsicum. The coulis was really nice and refreshing, but I really wanted to have more of it to cover the zucchini with! The baked tofu recipe in this book was one of the first baked tofu recipes I ever made, and remains one of my favourites to this day!
Rating: Zucchini :), Coulis :), Tofu :D



Potato and Cucumber Salad with Chive Dressing: This is meant to have Red Pepper in the title as well, but we all know how I feel about that. This is a soy mayo based dressing, which is darn tasty. This is great for summer!
Rating: :)



Macaroni Salad with Cucumbers and Dill Dressing: Another creamy salad, this is yummy and hits the spot. Though it says it makes 12 side dish servings, I got two lunch-sized servings out of it, so they must be super stingy with their side dish servings!
Rating: :)



Wasabi Mashed Potatoes: These are a great, comforting side dish, especially with strong asian flavours. The recipe calls for 3/4 teaspoon of wasabi powder, which doesn't really give it much flavour, so you may want to add a bit more.
Rating: :)



Roasted Pumpkin and Brussels with Garlic and Herbs: This is great for autumn, but really is great anytime. I only roasted for about an hour, not longer, or the vegetables started to dry out.
Rating: :)



Cannellini Beans with Tomatoes and Fennel Seeds of Soft Polenta: So this is meant to have red capscium, not tomatoes, but no times infinity. The tomatoes worked great. The soft polenta is lovely, I love polenta! Served over roasted zucchini.
Rating: :)



Tofu and Vegetables with Ginger and Coconut Milk: This isn't exactly packed with flavour, but it has that comforting kind of not really blandness to it. Green beans, yellow squash and tofu are cooked in a coconut milk sauce and served over brown rice.
Rating: :)



Spicy Chinese Eggplant with Tempeh and Baby Corn: This comes together super fast.I upscaled all the ingredients - doubled the eggplant, tempeh and baby corn - so that I didn't have leftover bits of open packets and tins left over.
Rating: :)



Hummus Sandwich with Cucumber and Tomato Relish: I really enjoy this sandwich, it is so fresh and tasty. The relish is particularly refreshing. It said it makes 8 sandwiches, but I made a half batch which was enough for six sandwiches, though you may want to make extra relish as you will end up with more hummus. Leftovers would be great layered and served with veggie dippers.
Rating: :)



Tofu and Potato Hash: This is a fine scramble, though a little basic compared to some of the other recipes out there. But it has potatoes in it, so that is a total bonus!
Rating: :)



Chasing Away The Chill: Split Pea Soup with Sweet Potato and Mexican Seasonings, Mushroom and Soy Cheese Salad, leafy salad with vinaigrette: This is one of the spring menus. The first time I made this soup I didn't know about the differences between US and Australian chili powders (Australian is like a million times hotter) and I pretty much killed myself and couldn't eat it! I made it again with an appropriately adjusted amount and it was much better. This is served with some amazing quesadillas that I just LOVE! The book also has guidelines for mixing up pretty much any vinaigrette you could wish.
Rating: Soup :), Quesadillas :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This morning Sahara was lying on the floor, and even though it was a hot day, my toes felt cold. So I just tucked my feet in either side of her, and she gave me this curious look. But she purred so it was all good.

Recipe Round-Up: Quick-Fix Vegan

Time for another round up from one of my favourites, Quick-Fix Vegan by Robin Robertson! Lots of pasta and soup in this post.

Linguine with Cannellini Pesto: This comes together very quickly, and makes a thick and tasty pesto coating for your pasta. White beans, basil, pasta water, garlic and your choice of miso or nooch (so hard to pick!) are the main parts of the pesto, which would be great off the pasta as well. It doesn't use a whole tin of cannellini beans, so I served some extra on the side.
Rating: :)



Orecchiette with Puttanesca Pesto: This pesto has a good strong flavour, just like puttanesca should be! Served with baby spinach and baked tofu. Leftovers also make a great pasta salad with a few additions.
Rating: :)



Southwestern Pasta Toss: There is lots of fun stuff in this pasta, including avocado, scallions, chiles (I only used a single green one), corn and pinto beans. It is also very yummy with a bit of sour cream and a sprinkle of nooch on top.
Rating: :)



Spicy Peanut-Hoisin Noodles with Tofu and Broccoli: Peanut sauce and noodles go together like two really good things that go together. Tofu, broccoli and carrots are mixed in, and I also added some zucchini and some peas. The spice comes from 1 tablespoon of sriracha, which added a nice heat.
Rating: :)



Quick Vegetable and Quinoa Soup: This soup is full of quinoa, tomatoes, kidney beans, zucchini, corn and carrots as well as lots of seasonings, for a super fast and tasty dinner, excellent if you are a bit under the weather. I love adding nooch to my soup before I eat it, and this was excellent with this.
Rating: :)



Sweet Potato-Spinach Soup: This soup is quite rich, but I lightened it up by adding some lime juice and also a swizzle of sriracha (I don't know why I did this, my notes just say that I did). It is good served over some rice as well.
Rating: :)



Creamy Green Soup: I was looking forward to making this soup for lunch when I suddenly realised that I didn't have any coconut milk. Luckily there is the option of using another nondairy milk instead, and I also used a handful of shredded coconut when I was simmering everything, as it was going to be blended up anyway. Served over rice.
Rating: :)



Last-Minute Laksa: I do enjoy laksa, and this comes together very quickly - even with making your own laksa paste in a mini food processor! Tofu, scallions, peas and linguine swim in the soup, topped with bean sprouts and coriander. I added more lime.
Rating: :)



Moroccan-Spiced Pumpkin Soup: About once a year I will buy a heap of tinned pumpkin from the online US food shop based in Melbourne, and I do enjoy looking for new ways to use them. This recipe used up a whole tine, and was nicely spiced. The pistachios on top were a nice addition. Served three people for dinner with some bread and salad on the side.



Miso Soup with Tofu and Dulse: Quick and simple, miso soup is one of my favourites. I found this one quite salty, so would probably use a diluted vegetable broth next time. It has firm tofu, rather than silken tofu like a lot of miso soups, but this worked very well. Serves 2 for lunch.
Rating: :)



Chard and Red Lentil Soup: I love red lentil soups, red lentil sauces, red lentil anything. This is a simple, filling soup to make when you are wanting something wholesome fuss-free to get in your belly.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I have quite a lot of pyjamas with black cats on them. However, sometimes an actual black cat likes to hop on my pyjamas! Dim Sim has claimed my PJ shorts for her own.

Second Christmas!

My little brother lives in the UK, but he has just come home for his first holiday here in two and a half years. He got in late on the 2nd, so on the 3rd we had second Christmas. Yay! This was a lighter affair than first Christmas, but was still very yummy.

Fiery Fruit and Quinoa Salad from Salad Samurai by Terry Hope Romero: This was the centerpiece of the meal, and I think you can see why. It is a stunning salad! Quinoa, black beans, lots of herbs, grilled onions, grilled peaches, roasted corn kernels (these were meant to be grilled but I was just using a little George Foreman grill, so I cut the kernels off and roasted them) and a great Chipotle Chia Dressing. I only used about half the amount of chipotle in the dressing as called for, which gave it a nice smokey mild heat without it being anything scary. This was so delicious!
Rating: Salad :D, Dressing :)



Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Moroccan Spices from World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan: My brother mentioned he would like some sweet potatoes with lunch, and these sounded like they would go well. Whole cumin, coriander and mustard seeds are mixed with maple syrup and grated lemon peel. The seeds go wonderfully crunchy and sticky!
Rating: :)



Just some sauteed kale seasoned with Braggs and some garlic powder.



I also fried up some big mushrooms (just regular white field mushrooms, not portobellos) and then glazed them with some HP sauce. They were yummy! And of course some cranberry sauce. I was going to make some myself but we still had half of the jar left from Christmas day so I just used up the rest of that.



Group shot!



On my plate, shortly before heading to my stomach.



After lunch we played our traditional game of Trivial Pursuit - parents vs. kids. Sadly Greg and I lost this year, though we totally would have won if we hadn't talked ourselves out of so many right answers! Oh well.... To go with our trivial pursuit, I made some trifle.



The layers were (from the bottom up):

1. Strawberry Cupcakes from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: I had some leftover cupcakes in my freezer that I had been saving for this. I love these cupcakes!
   Rating: :D
2. Strawberry jelly from a vegan packet mix
3. Tinned peach slices
4. Custard made with Orgran custard powder
5. Tofu Whipped Topping from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: This was a lovely, sweet cream. It didn't thicken up that much with chilling, but it was still just right for this sort of thing.
   Rating: :)
6. Sliced toasted almonds and chocolate sprinkles

No action shots, because trifle always looks good assembled and then turns into a pile of kind of gross looking slush in the bowl. But it was damn tasty!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



A special Christmas photo of my beautiful Gizmo on her last Christmas in 2011. I miss her so much.