Recipe Round Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

So, I have decided that I am pretty much just going to power through my 1000 Vegan Recipe backlog, then I can move onto current stuff (well, aside from all the other backlogs from other books I have...). Today's post looks at some of the beany mains that I have made.



Chinese Black Bean Chili (pg 250)
This is a really great flavour and a very different chili. In addition to the standard tinned tomatoes, the chili also calls for black bean sauce, which gives it a whole different dimension. Great served with basmati rice.




Red Bean Jambalaya (pg 252)
Beans, rice, tomatoes. This is a stove-top jambalaya. I have not noted down any difficulties with cooking the rice (always my concern in such dishes), which is great... nothing worse than undercooked rice or an extra long cooking time!




African Inspired Red Bean Stew (pg 254)
This is a very rich stew, with delicious peanut butter as the not-so-secret ingredient. The recipe calls for three cups of fresh baby spinach, but you can add more! I added a whole bags worth, and there was still room for more greens.




Jamaican Red Bean Stew (pg 252)
This is another rich stew, again using kidney beans. In this case, coconut milk provides the richness. Although not in the recipe, I also added some baby spinach to this during the last five minutes of simmering to get some greens into it. Served over cous cous, this is great. (See how Becky made this a low fat version here.)



Argentinian Bean and Vegetable Stew (pg 254)
A trilogy of kidney bean stews from across the globe! This one is made special due to chopped orange being included in the ingredients, which makes for a great contrast of flavours. Serve over quinoa.




Pomegranate-Infused Lentil and Chickpea Stew (pg 260)
Hmmm... this sounds amazing, but I found it a bit meh. It was my first time using pomegranate molasses, and I think the flavour was not quite what I was expecting, which was a bit jarring. I also found that the brown rice did not cook all the way through, I don't know if soaking it with the lentils would help with this? I served over baby spinach, but would totally also add some peas to the mix next time for extra vegetable content.




Tuscan White Beans and Broccoli Rabe (pg 256)
This is super fast and super quick, saute white beans and broccoli rabe (I used broccolini, not the same, I know, but good enough and delicious in its own right) and there you have it! As you can see, I made it in to dinner by tossing it with some wholemeal spiral pasta and giving it a good sprinkling of nooch! This is also a very easy recipe to downsize for those of us dining alone.




Chickpea and Vegetable Curry (pg 258)
This is an easy and classic combination of protein, vegetables, coconut milk and raisins. Serve with brown basmati rice.




Tamarind Chickpea Stew (pg 260)
I love tamarind, everything it touches turns to delicious gold. Or in this case, delicious stew.




Three-Bean Chili (pg 249)
The three beans are black, white and red. To get a spicy heat I used 1 chipotle in adobe and 2 teaspoons of hot chili powder. The recipe calls for three tablespoons of chili powder, but I suspect US and Australian chili powder is different. Our chili powder just tends to be ground hot chilies, and three tablespoons of that stuff would be more than a jar and would blow your head off.




Chickpea, Tomato, and Eggplant Stew (pg 258)
Delicious on a cold winter night.


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



As promised, here is more Sahara in her wheelbarrow. This is the full body shot. How comfy and dozy does she look?

Stay tuned for more food photos and the final installment of Sahara in the wheelbarrow!

(% 1000 Vegan Recipes Blogged: 14%)

Recipe Round-Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

Another 1000 Vegan Recipes post, I know. But I would like to point out that there are *1000* vegan recipes in the book, so it's going to take some time. Plus I have been inspired by reading Becky's blog My Adventures Testing 1000 Vegan Recipes to start clearing out the backlog of photos I have. It's also come to my attention the last few posts I've done with this book I have forgotten to put my percentage blogged at the bottom, I have gone back and edited the posts to include this, and have added to current grand total at the end of this post - progress is being made kids!

Today's theme is pasta. Yes, I am clearing out the pasta section of my backlog, and this is the first half of that. We've already covered some of the salads and soups in previous posts.


Persian Noodles and Lentils (pg 214).
This is an interesting pasta dish, combining brown lentils, tinned tomatoes and walnuts with sweet dates. I know some people are on the fence or downright hate fruit in savoury dishes, but if you aren't one of those you will enjoy this a lot.



Penne with Chickpeas and Rosemary (pg 210).
Simple, very fast and pretty self-explanatory, really. In retrospect I should have made it with fresh rosemary from the garden. I think it was pelting down rain or something so I didn't want to go out. Or not. I cooked this ages ago, so I could be making that part up. I do always try and use fresh rosemary from the garden where I can though.



Penne with Vodka-Spiked Tomato Sauce (pg 198).
I have been in love with vodka sauce ever since that recipe from Veganomicon blew my mind. This recipe uses pureed beans and soy milk for the creamy component. It was good, but not as good as the Vcon one (which uses ground almonds). I served it with a Fry's schnitzel and some salad.



Penne with Peanut Pesto (pg 203).
This is fantastic. The pesto is thick and yummy, and leftovers also make a really good spread for sandwiches. I served it with some pan-fried Asian marinated tofu (from a packet) and some roasted asparagus.



Linguine Puttanesca (pg 196).
I love puttanesca sauce, and this one was no exception. So many wonderful, juicy olives! I added a tin of kidney beans for protein.



Tricolour Rotini with Pesto Bianco (pg 202).
The white pesto is made from pine nuts, cashews and artichoke hearts for a unique flavour. I used a 375g bag of pasta, rather than 1 pound, which made enough for three to four servings. I found I had too much pesto for the pasta, but it made an excellent sandwich spread. I served it with my much loved Soy-Glazed Tofu with some steamed broccoli. The leftovers also made an exceptional pasta salad, I stirred through a few spoons of vegan mayo and added chopped up left-over tofu and broccoli, quartered cherry tomatoes, sliced olives and peas.



Fettuccine with Chard and Red Lentil Tomato Sauce (pg 199).
I love lentil-based pasta sauces, and adding some silverbeet (chard) makes for pretty much a complete meal. The recipe calls for cooking the lentils for thirty minutes, and this makes them very mushy, so if you would prefer a bit more texture from your lentils then cook them for less.



Rotini and Almond-Mint Pesto with Orange Zest (pg 203).
Another pesto with a difference, almond, mint and orange combine to make a refreshing and slightly tangy pasta dish. Served with some Soy-Glazed Tofu and some salad greens for a complete meal. I also made a pasta salad out of these leftovers, chopping up the remaining tofu and mixing it all together with some peas, corn and sliced cherry tomatoes.



Pasta Primavera (pg 206).
Another recipe calling for the pretty three-coloured pasta spirals, I again used a 350g bag (that's what these come in). This was a quick, nice recipe, but next time I would double or even triple the amount of vegetables in the pasta, because I like a high vegetable to pasta ratio. The vegetables are zucchini, asparagus and green onions, and I added a carrot in place of the red capsicum.


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Check out this cutie. Sahara does not go outside except to go out into our CatMax cat enclosure. We have an old wheelbarrow in there that is filled with old towels and jumpers and pillows, and she loves to sleep in it. I took a few photos of her this day, because she was striking the cutest pose in it, I will share the other photos in future posts. I want to snorgle that face right now... oh wait, I can!

(% 1000 Vegan Recipes Blogged: 12.9%)(We are over 1/8th of the way through the book on this blog!)

Recipe Round Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

It's cold and raining today. Sure, by cold I mean 23 degrees Celcius, but it is all relative to where you live and what your cold tolerance is. I am also getting over some sort of icky virus that has left me achy and tired for the last four days. In honour of this, I present soup. Some of this soup I made to take to work for lunches on cold days, some of these soups I made for lunches on nippy days at home, and others were some dinner soups. Let's out on our comfy pants and cardigans, snuggle up, and take a peep.


Summer Vegetable Soup (pg 149).
Leeks, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, corn, spinach and basil. Quick, easy and fresh.


Lemony Lentil and Rice Soup (pg 164).
I love lentil soups, and this was a good wintery soup to warm your soul. Or your tummy on a cold day. It isn't really all that lemony though, I was looking forward to the lemon flavour, so next time I would add more lemon juice.


Black Bean and Corn Soup (pg 160).
Three tins of black beans go into this baby. It was a good soup, though nothing really pushes it above the other black bean soups out there. But it is pretty easy to make, and will certainly give you a pleasant lunch to look forward to.


Mulligatawny Soup (pg 155).
This soup was a bit sweet for my tastes. It has coconut milk and green apple in it, as well as lentils and curry flavours, of course. I would have this soup in small doses as a starter rather than a large bowl for a main meal.


Corn and Potato Chowder (pg 165).
Can I just say, black pepper and lots of it, will make this already delightful soup into something amazing.


Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup with Baby Spinach (pg 158).
This is a sweet and peanutty soup, delicious. It is too rich and not filling enough for a main meal, but for a small bowl to kick off the meal it is amazing. Or serve small amounts over hot white rice... too good.


Versatile Vegetable Soup (pg 148).
This is a pretty solid soup - vegetables and chickpeas - you just need to be careful not to over cook it, or everything gets a little... cabbagy. It is versatile because you can change up the vegetables and beans depending on what you have around.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


GIZMO FACE!

(%1000 Vegan Recipes Blogged: 12%)

Recipe Round-Up: Appetite For Reduction (and some exciting news)

Wow... four weeks since my last post, where has the time gone? I have no idea. I did get some pretty exciting news a few weeks ago, which has been taking up a lot of my time. More on that later.

To make up for the long post hiatus, here is a super post round up of Appetite For Reduction. I am still loving this book. The food in it is so easy and fresh, I love the way Isa manages to combine so many vegetables into the dinners. Here is what I have been making over the last long while...


Potato-Spinach Curry (p 232) with Tamarind Quinoa (p 84) and Masala Baked Tofu (p 146).
I loved the quinoa here, so delicious! Though in future I would add a bit more tamarind paste to bring out a stronger flavour - I love tamarind! The curry goes really well with it, the frozen spinach really cooks down it delicious soft mush (in a good way!). For the tofu, I was using my marinade on its second run, and it was just as delicious as the first time.


Eggplant-Chickpea Curry (p 230) with Cranberry-Cashew Biryani (p 67).
My family was thrilled when this was served, back when my brother was still here over summer. It was a fantastic combination! The biryani was really nice and chewy, and the flavours of both dishes just really work. I think I served this with some baby spinach leaves, for a bit of green.


Red Wine & Kalamata Tempeh (p 157) with Garlic-Herb Caulipots (p 54).
Red wine and olives? Hell yeah! This is a very strong marinade, but it will knock your socks off. You will be slathering the extra sauce over your caulipots. This was my first time making the caulipots, and I am a devoted fan. Steamed broccoli just fits so well here... including the delicious stems, of course!


Curried Scrambled Tofu with Wilted Arugula (p 156) with Brussels Sprout-Potato Hash (p 65). Brinner time! The tofu scramble recipe says four serves, but my happy little belly would make two or three serves out of it. Granted, I don't have to worry about portion sizes too much. The hash was tasty. The introduction to the recipe suggests serving with the chickpea gravy, which I think would also be a great combination. In this case, I served my brinner with some salad greens and some avocado on sourdough toast.


Curried Green Onion Hummus (p 138).
A worktime snack. I think my curry powder might be stronger than the type Isa uses (or maybe she has awesome powers of curry), so I used the lesser option of two teaspoons.


Mango BBQ Beans (p 133) with Fresh Corn & Scallion Corn Bread (p 244) and Jerk Asparagus (p 91).
I had read a lot about these beans on the PPK Forums, and it certainly did not steer me wrong. The mango does not make it overly sweet, it just adds another dimension. It was a great way to use up some of summer's beautiful mangoes! I did find the cornbread quite sweet, so next time I would add less agave nectar. The addition of fresh corn kernels really elevates the cornbread in a way that frozen corn kernels just never could. The asparagus was also very nice, though in a family of asparagus lovers I didn't have any left for my left overs!


Caesar Salad with Eggplant Bacon (p 42).
Hello Eggplant Bacon, and where have you been all my life? It was lucky any of it made it to the salad and I didn't just snack on it all. The Caesar Chavez Dressing was thick and delicious - also great on sandwiches (more on that soon). I added the optional chickpeas to bulk it out a bit. This is something you want to assemble on an as needed basis, and the eggplant bacon is definitely best eaten soon after it is made, so it is not the best thing to make for lunches for the week. Fresh is best here!


Breakfast Sandwich (p 269).
This used up a few leftovers - Curry Scrambled Tofy with Wilted Arugula, Caesar Chavez Dressing and Eggplant Bacon all on a freshly made english muffin (from Isa's Vegan Brunch). It was very satisfying!


Eggplant Provencal (p 260) with Herb-Roasted Cauliflower & Bread Crumbs (p 108).
The provencal is a great warming stew, and is bulked out nicely by the potatoes in it. The recipe suggests serving with bread or rice, but I found with the potatoes in it the rice I made was a bit superfluous. The cauliflower is also highly addictive.


2nd Avenue Vegetable Korma (p 226).
This is super quick and very tasty dinner, served over brown rice, and the leftovers go really well in a wrap.


Ginger Bok Choy & Soba (p 176).
This is pretty self explanatory. I added the optional adzuki beans to bulk it out, and used shoyu soy sauce for an extra depth of flavour.


Kidney Bean & Butternut Jamba Stew (p 256).
I cut the pumpkin a bit big for this, and I also had only taken the peel off fairly thinly, so the pumpkin didn't get as smooshy as I would have liked, but that is totally my own fault. I subbed peas for green capsicum. The left overs were great either reheated with some nooch mixed in or in a wrap with some greens.


Cheezy 'Pots (p 54), Sweet & Salty Maple Baby Carrots (p 105), Silky Chickpea Gravy (p 56) and Basic Baked Tofu (p 144).
The ultimate in comfort food, after this photo was taken I added a lot more gravy! The Cheezy 'Pots are my favourite variation of Caulipots thus far, why is it that nooch makes everything better? For the carrots, I couldn't find any baby carrots so I just cut regular carrots in half and then on a thick diagonal. Next time I will add a pinch more salt, I think. Basic Baked Tofu is basic and easy, but so versatile and you can imagine it in many a ways. The marinade makes enough for two 500g blocks of tofu and another half batch. Finally, the gravy is sublime. Smother it over everything, eat it with a spoon. I did have to spend several minutes with my handheld blender to get it smooth. I finished it up with some steamed broccoli.


Jalapeno-Cilantro Hummus (p 139).
This is one of my favourite hummus flavours ever. I can't really describe it, so just go ahead and make it and prepare for your taste buds to be blown away.


Quinoa Puttanesca (p 75) with Basic Baked Tofu (p 144).
Juicy, saucy, salty and just a little bit spicy, this quinoa will not let you down. Although quinoa is a little powerhouse of protein, I also added some baked tofu and some steamed broccoli, thus elevating this to one satisfying dindins.


Moroccan Chickpeas & Zucchini (p 249).
I took Isa's suggestion and served this with cous cous, which was a perfect combination. I used three zucchinis instead of two (because you can always have more vegetables) and some regular carrots thickly sliced on the diagonal in place of baby carrots. The recipe called for 25 ounces of tinned chickpeas. I used two 400g tins, but next time I would probably add one and a half tins next time, as I found it almost a bit too full of chickpeas. I know, I didn't think it was possible either.


Eggplant Kibbeh (p 82) with Baked Falafel (p 121) and Shabby Sheik Hummus (p 138).
The kibbeh was a bit watery, because I accidentally followed the instructions on the bulgur packet and not Isa's instructions, which call for a lot less water. The falafels are adorable, and really easy to make. They hold together perfectly, which is something I always worry about with patties (I'm sure we all know the anguish of balls or patties that don't stick). The hummus went really well with this combination.


Arabian Lentil & Rice Soup (p 206).
There was murmurs on the PPK boards about this soup being a delicious surprise, and I was not let down. Maybe it is the lemon in it? I don't know. But what looks like it would be a fairly straight forward flavour profile ends up as something magical. I served it with some little pitas and some salad leaves. Make it.


Sauteed Kasha & Mushrooms with Dill (p 73) and Basic Baked Tempeh (p 145).
I love how the dill flavour lingers long after dinner has finished. This is only my second time using kasha, and I am a fan. This is earthy goodness at its best. The tempeh is baked in the same marinade as the tofu recipe, and is juicy and a great accompaniment. It doesn't mask much of the tempeh flavour, so keep it for those you know enjoy tempeh without needing lots of strong flavours. Some steamed broccoli finished it off.

Now for my news! Those who follow me on Twitter would already know, but I have been accepted for a short oral presentation at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum in June, in Denver, in the USA! My talk is about the research I am doing for my masters, and is called Diabetic Cats in Remission Have Impaired Glucose Tolerance... exciting stuff. ;) Public speaking aside (which fills me with dread and terror), I am having three weeks of holidays to spend in America, a place I have never been. The conference is in Denver, and then I am heading off to Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. And I am going to eat! Yay!!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Check out that larynx! Sahara takes a big yawn.