Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

I am a long time reader of the blog Vegan Crunk, written by Bianca Phillips, and I was excited when she released a cookbook Cookin' Crunk, full of great southern recipes. This book is a lot of fun, and I would definitely call it a go-to for comfort food recipes. I have so many recipes bookmarked to make, but today I will be sharing some of the recipes I have made so far.

Creamy Cashew Mac and Cheese and BBQ Dry Rub Seitan Ribs: Mac and cheese is my favourite, and this version is amazing. The sauce is fantastic! I ended up blending all of the soy milk with the rest of the sauce ingredients, rather than only a quarter and adding the rest later. The ribs are made from scratch, with lots of flavour in the seitan itself, and then coated in a dry rub. I think this was my first time having 'dry' ribs, apparently the wet vs dry debate rages on in Memphis! Rating: Mac and Cheese :D, Ribs :)



Boozy Baked Beans and Caramelised Brussels Sprouts with Pecans: I made the baked beans for my mum, who loves baked beans, and these were a good version. The booziness comes from beer, I used some Coopers stout, but it doesn't overpower the dish at all. This said is made 4-6 servings, we got three-ish servings. I guess we are boozy beer hounds! The Burssels sprouts were sweet but also garlicky and crunchy from pecans.
Rating: Beans :), Sprouts :)



Some-Like-It-Hot TLT: Technically I made this as a Some-Like-It-Mild TLT. I only used half the sriracha in the marinade, which imparted a very gently heat. The marinade was really nice, and included hoisin sauce. The recipe calls for an 8oz (I used 250g) block of tofu sliced into 4 equal slabs, which makes for thick slices! But that just meant a very satisfying sandwich.
Rating: :)



BBQ Tofu Spaghetti: Spaghetti, BBQ sauce, mushrooms and broccoli (which I used to replace the green capsicum), how can things be wrong? They can't. I had extra mushrooms in the sauce, and also served it over some kale. I used the BBQ sauce recipe from the book, which had a great tang to it.
Rating: Spaghetti :), BBQ Sauce :)



Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes and Tofu: Spaghetti squash is an ingredient that has only recently become available to me, and is still only sporadically available, so I am still finding my feet with it. Unfortunately I did slightly overbake it here, so it was a bit smooshy. The recipe calls for adobo seasoning or seasoning salt, and I used the American Seasoning from American Vegan Kitchen here. I needed to add a fair bit more seasoning than the recipe called for. Served here with baby spinach and bread rolls.
Rating: :)



Cheesy Burger Mac: So this may not look pretty, but it sure sounds pretty. Macaroni is blended with the book's recipe for Ground TSP Beef and Basic Cheese Sauce recipe to create a comfort classic. The sauce is based on nooch with no cashews. It was nice but I definitely preferred the sauce from the mac and cheese recipe. I made a half batch of the TSP recipe, which made just over a cup (the recipe says the full version makes a cup). My soy sauce was not reduced sodium, so it was quite salty, so next time I would dilute with some water. And when you put it all together into the mac, it is a great combo. Served over kale because greens. Superb with ketchup.
Rating: Mac :), Sauce :), TSP :)



BBQ Tempeh Pizza: This recipe uses the basic cheese sauce, BBQ sauce (I used some left over from another cookbook), tempeh, spinach and a pre-made base. The cheese sauce is used as the base for the pizza, but I had some extra so I drizzled it on top as well. This was a tasty pizza, though next time I would add pineapple because everyone knows that pineapple should be on pizza and it would go especially nicely with this one.
Rating: :)



Nutty Mushroom Quinoa: This is a great, earthy dish that I made in the end throws of winter. I cooked the quinoa in the rice cooker because sometimes I can be exceedingly lazy. It was nice.
Rating: :)



I definitely recommend this book, and checking out Bianca's blog. I have a lot that I still need to make from here, including some amazing sounding breakfasts and delectable desserts!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



One black princess, sitting on the sofa and thinking about life.

Eating Out: Greenhouse Factory (Birthday edition)

It was my birthday on Saturday. Normally I am not too fussed about celebrating birthdays, but as it fell on a weekend where I didn't have to work, I organised a lunch with friends. Originally we were going to go and have yum cha, but they were closed for renovations, so we instead went to Greenhouse Facotry, down at Coolangatta. I had been there once before.

A couple of people ordered the Chocolate Mylk smoothie (cashew milk, dates and cocoa) and raved about it, I had a little sip, and it was very nice ($8.50). I ordered the Seasonal Roots juice, which had beetroot, carrot, apple and orange ($8). It was lovely.



And here is what everyone ordered!

Pete had the Breakfast Burrito, which had pesto-scrambled organic tofu, chilli house-made beans, organic greens, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms in a buckwheat wrap topped with pesto and avocado cream ($18).



Amy and Ashleigh shared a starter of Chickpea Fries ($7).



Ashleigh had the Organic Sweet Potato, stuffed with chipotle black bean corn and quinoa salsa, avocado cream, and dressed organic greens ($19).



Amy had the Soft Taco Duo, with mexican spiced walnut and mushroom meat, topped with blackbean quinoa salsa, fresh crispy vegetables, guacamole and house made sour cream in an organic corn tortilla ($18).



Bec had the Tostada Bowl, an organic buckwheat shell with quinoa, chilli corn bean, brown rice, red quinoa, raw shredded vegetables, house-made avocado salsa and cashew sour cream ($18).



And Sarah and I both had the Portobello Benedict, mushrooms stuffed with organic sweet potato, kale and pepita sand and topped with greenhouse turmeric hollandaise ($17). This was lovely! I had ordered a side of avocado as well, but then it came with avocado on top anyway (that's OK, because you can never have too much avocado). The only thing is I think Greenhouse might use a fair bit of coconut oil in their cooking, because I did pick up a hint of it, though not enough to make me feel sick. I would recommend this!



I also ordered a small side of Organic Potato Hash ($4), and Amy and Ashleigh split a large side ($7). These were great.



Everyone seemed quite happy with their food. Greenhouse is a lovely place, set overlooking the beach (inside and outside seating is available, I always sit inside because of my pale skin). There is a bathroom located down the side of the business. There are some fans inside, but no air conditioning for hot days. Overall I do really like Greenhouse, it is just a bit far away (an hour drive from my southside Brisbane home) to go there too often. It is all vegan and mostly GF.



And here are some bonus cupcakes! Greenhouse does have dessert, but they are generally all raw. Given my coconut fat sensitivity, raw desserts are generally out on account of all the coconut oil they use. So Amy organised some cupcakes from Cloverly Cupcakes, a Brisbane-based vegan cupcake empire. We had a selection of flavours, including Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Hazelnut, Chai and gluten-free Jaffa. I had the chocolate peanut butter cup, which was delicious!



It was a really lovely birthday lunch! I also went out with my parent's for birthday dinner, which I will be sharing in another post.

Cute Kitty of the Post



All I really need for my birthday, or for any day, is my cats. Here Dim Sim and Sahara watch the Cath Me If You Can toy that I got for them in Japan.

MidWeek Munchies

MidWeek Munchies is a fun blogging link-up run by My Blissful Journey where everyone shares some of the fun munchies that have been enjoying. I have finally organised myself well enough to take part!

Kicking off with these Hilary's Black Rice Burgers. Hilary's have been available here for the last couple of months, and when I found them on a two for one special it seemed like a good time to try them out! I got this flavour and also the root vegetable one. Unfortunately I didn't realise until after I got home that they all contain coconut oil. The root vegetable patty tasted too much like coconut oil and made me feel a bit gross, but happily these black rice patty did not. Great flavour! I ate them chopped up in salads. I gave the second patty of the root vegetable one to a friend. I would buy the black rice flavour again.



I am really into green smoothies. Normally I add some LSA into them for a bit of a boost (I used to use a vegan protein powder, but I don't anymore), but I found this packet of Yuve Chia and Cocoa still hanging around from my Vida Vegan Con swag bag. It was meant to be one serving, but like many of these things from the US that would have been too sweet for me. I broke it up into about four or five servings. Really nice with banana, strawberry, baby spinach and oatmilk for a chocolate strawberry smoothie.



It was my birthday on Saturday (birthday food posts coming soon!) and even though I said I didn't need presents, my friend Ashleigh gifted me with this lovely hamper! I haven't had time to eat any of it yet, but I am looking forward to trying out those snack bars and I have big plans for the ice cream. So Delicious cashew is the best! There was also some cocoa butter in it, which I am super excited to use!



On Sunday I went at saw a National Theatre Live screening of Hamlet (with Benedict Cumberbatch), which was great. It was a three and a bit hour event though, so I packed a lot of snacks! I actually ended up having a huge lunch right before hand (which I will post about soon), so I really didn't need much in the way of snacks. But I did munch away on the half a packet of Choco Nonos I had because it was pretty fun to be eating vegan M&Ms at the movies. The rest went back into my snack stash at home.



And finally some snacks I bought yesterday. I used to love honey roasted cashews in my pregan days, so I was excited to find these maple roasted ones and I am looking forward to trying them out. Also, we are coming into summer here, and I bought a perfectly sweet, ripe apricot. My first of the season! I love apricots, and this was a perfect beginning to what I hope will be a stone-fruit heavy summer.



If you'd like to join in the link up fun, head on over to Jennifer's blog for all the details. :)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sahara is a cat who loves her munchies. Here she is doing one of her favourite feed-me-please poses, the collapsed cat. Note the slightly shut eye, like the weight of her hunger is too much for a bear to bear. The front paws, held slightly aloft. Oh, the tragedy!
Just so you know, Sahara gets fed several times a day. She is in no way actually starving. Though she is on some meds that do make her hudrier than normal.

Recipe Round-Up: Chloe's Vegan Desserts

Time for some sweet treats today, with a peek into Chloe's Vegan Desserts, also by Chloe Coscarelli. This book has given me many fun things to bake for bake sales.

Raspberry Swirl Coffee Cake: I love coffee cake in the American style, because there is no coffee in it at all. And because I am a rebel, I don't eat it with coffee because I don't like coffee. But I do like cake! This one was delicious, with raspberries in the batter. I baked this in a 9 inch round tin rather than an 8 inch square one because it was a birthday cake. I had to bake it much longer than the time though, an extra 40 minutes (!) and it was still very soft.
Rating: :D



Baked Chocolate Doughnuts: These are simple to make and look beautiful with their chocolate glaze. I made these for a bake sale, and decorated them with a variety of toppings. They do rise quite a bit in baking, so they are some quite plump doughnuts.
Rating: :)



Lemon Bars: These are ooey and gooey and lemony and lovely. Though as you can see, they turned out quite soft! Sticky fingers by happy tummies.
Rating: :)

Pecan Bars: These were good, but so sticky. The caramel never really set properly for me. Not surprisingly these are very sweet, I think adding some sea salt flakes to make salted caramel ones would be good.
Rating: :)



Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: I am a big fan of oatmeal cookies and these were lovely, classic, oaty mouthfuls.
Rating: :)



Peanut Butter Cookies: These cookies were a bit hard to work with, because the dough is quite dry. I made the dough in advance and stored it in the fridge as she suggested, and then the dough was even drier! I had to do a lot of extra kneading with wet hands. I used an Australian tablespoon for my scoop amd gpt 25 cookies, which I needed to cook for 15 minutes.
Rating: :)



Chewy Ginger-Molasses Cookies: I LOVE ginger cookies, and these were great! It says it makes 24 two and a half inch cookies, I used an Australian tablespoon as my scoop and for 26. They spread quite a bit in the oven, and are quite soft when they come out of the oven, but then firm up to be chewy.
Rating: :D



Banana Bread Cobbler: Oh my gosh, this is amazing. The streusel topping is so delicious, and tops a layer of batter poured over sliced bananas. I needed to bake this for almost an hour, rather than 40 minutes, which was a long wait because it smells so good.
Rating: :D



Hot-Fudge-On-The-Bottom-Cake: This comes together very easily, and bakes up well. There is an excellent fudge sauce layer, which is thick and rich but not too sweet.
Rating: :)



Salted Caramel Cupcakes: These cupcakes are a huge hit at bake sales, and have sometimes sold out within the first few minutes. I found that the batter makes more like 16 cupcakes rather than 12, they rise a lot! The icing also makes a huge amount, so I tend to just do a half batch, but it depends on how thick you want your caramel. Oh, and you can definitely make the icing and ice the cupcakes the day before and it will be fine, the recipe says to make it fresh, but a night in the fridge is a-OK.
Rating: :)



Maple-Glazed Carrot Cupcake: These are really nice carroty cupcakes, but as you can see my glaze was very runny. There was no chance of me artfully drizzing it, it just ran everywhere. Still tasted OK though! I only needed 2/3 of the glaze for all the cupcakes.
Rating: :)



It's A Date! Shake: I scaled this down to make one serve, which was sweet and also very good for you because of all the dates (ignore the ice cream).
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Lego (up the front) and Pikelet (up the back) are two gorgeous boys that are boarding with us. We love them!

Menu Madness: Indian Buffet Trio from Chloe's Kitchen

While Chloe's Kitchen (by Chloe Coscarelli) has menus listed in the back of the book, this collection of recipes is all together in the main dish section, though as involves four dishes I am counting it as a menu! I made this for my Dad's birthday a couple of years ago because he loves Indian food (yes, I am that far behind in getting through my photos!).

The 'trio' in question are saag aloo, chana masala, and vegetable biriyani, with the added fourth of some garlic naan.



Saag Aloo: This was my favourite of the trio. Delicious potatoes and spinach in a cashew-based sauce. So good.
Rating: :D



Chana Masala: Chickpeas, tomatoes, spices, classic. It has a tablespoon of sweetener in it, which I found to be a bit too sweet, but it was still good.
Rating: :)



Biriyani: I love biriyani, and this made a lot! It is packed full of romato, mixed veggies, and raisins. The leftovers were also great (sprinkled with nooch, because I have no shame and it tastes great with nooch!).
Rating: :)



Garlic Naan: I was really excited about this, but unfortunately it was a bit of a let down. The dough is based on her pizza dough, but ended up being super sticky even when I added a bunch more flour. So they were tricky to cook. The taste was OK, but not really naan.
Rating: :|



And here are some more photos of them all. There was the option of serving with Chloe's tamarind mango chutney (from another recipe in the book), but I served with store-bought mango chutney and some plain soy yoghurt.





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Continuing on with the paw theme, here is Sahara holding onto her tail with her paw. She does this sometimes and it is adorable.

Recipe Round-Up: Blissful Bites

After a little break, it is back to some regular programming, which means recipe round-up time is here again! Today I am focusing on some recipes I have made from Blissful Bites by Christy Morgan, which is a great book. Each chapter in the book is broken up into seasons, so I have also mentioned which season each recipe belongs to.

Citrus Herb Cashew Crudites (Winter): This is quite sensational. It is based on cashews and pumpkin seeds, but has a great lemony and cheesy flavour. After soaking time, it all comes together very quickly, and is great served with veggies or bread sticks.
Rating: :D



Save a Duck Pate (Winter): The base for this recipe is tempeh and roasted almonds, which gives it a great rich taste. It also has a healthy dose of my favourite herb dill. I served this with cucumber slices and also some fresh crusty bread.
Rating: :)



Quick and Easy Nachos (Anytime): Nachos are always awesome. There is a recipe for oil-free nacho sauce, which was yummy (but gets lumpy quickly when heating, so be sure to whisk a lot!). It is then combined with tortilla chips, chili (I used some leftover chili I had in the freezer), cherry tomatoes, sour cream and salsa.
Rating: :)



Easy Cheezy Broccoli Soup (Anytime): The creaminess comes from potatoes and soy yoghurt, with lots of broccoli and nooch. I found it a little bland on tasting, so I added a bit more nooch and stock powder to get to my desired tastes. My yoghurt also got super lumpy when I added it, so I had to whizz with a stick blender briefly to get it all smooth again.
Rating: :)



Lemon-Miso Dressing (Spring): This dressing has a strong flavour and goes great with all kinds of salads, be they grain based, green based or otherwise.
Rating: :)



Creamy Basil Dressing (Spring): As you can see, this is a very thick dressing (it is almost pesto-like and is based on cashews and pine nuts), so you may want to thin it out a little. I found it to be more tangy, rather than creamy, but it was all tasty.
Rating: :)



Raw Pasta with Almond Sauce (Summer): I picked up some raw kelp noodles to make this recipe, and discovered that I love raw kelp noodles! The sauce was very thick, even with added extra water, and I also found it quite salty, so I upped the vegetables (carrot and cucumber) and it all balanced out nicely. I got two lunch servings out of this (the recipe says serves 4-6).
Rating: :)



Cilantro-Lime Dressing (Summer): This is made rich by the addition of some soaked pepitas and refreshing by the addition of cucumber. It is a great dressing for summer.
Rating: :)



Creamy Dulse Dressing (Winter): This is an unusual but tasty dressing, with a base of pepitas and silken tofu. Capers and lemon juice make it nice and tangy, and the dulse brings a great seaweed flavour.
Rating: :)



Green Spring Casserole (Spring): The green involved here are kale and green beans, with mushrooms added, but you can use any greens you have available. It has a light and creamy sauce, and comes togehter easily. It says it serves 5-7 as a side, but it would be tiny servings!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim's tiny black princess paws, complete with her favourite toy - the blue ribbon I cut out of a singlet.