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!