Seriously, where have I been?

Well, there were some exams and then spring break and now there's some more exams. Which I am actually studying for as I type. But anyway, I made the peanut butter blondies from the Moskowitz cookie book, with part almond butter. Finally finished the giant Costco jar of almond butter and now I never want any more ever again. EVER! The blondies were delicious, but other than the edges, they weren't really cooked, more just melted. If I made them again I think I'd shape them into cookies or put them in mini cupcake molds for a more baked product.

I know this is a cooking blog, but I finished a sweater today!

Stupid exams, taking my time away from important things. Like watching endless hours of House and making cupcakes. Anyways, three new recipes and one new sweater. We'll start with the salad:

Caesar Salad from The Veganomicon 9/10

I always thought caesar salad was just something I'd have to live without, however sad and lonely it made me feel. It is not true. I am the person who buys a bin of lettuce and lets 85% of it rot, but this dressing got me through all three romaine hearts. This is the kind of dish you take to potlucks and after everyone's been raving about it, break the news that it's vegan. The garlic croutons are good enough to eat on their own, or stale, or after dropping in cat litter.

Massaman curry, from The Asian Vegan Kitchen 7/10
I've never made my own curry paste from scratch before, or even bought and used pre-made curry paste. I've always left it to Thai restaurants. This curry didn't quite live up to my favorite, but I must admit, I couldn't find Thai chiles and had to use serranos, and didn't add any extra spice what with the lovely cold I've had the last few days. But it's still pretty darn good. I think next time I'll add more veggies, maybe some red pepper or broccoli.

Hot Fudge Sauce 6/10
When I said I was going to make hot fudge sauce my Catholic roommate started giggling like a horny 14 year old boy. I've always heard hot lunch or hot carl, but you never know with these Floridians. Anyway, I used a recipe from veg-web, even though you never can be sure with these recipes. I used rice milk because it was all that I had (I think soy would be better, it's thicker), and semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of unsweetened baker's chocolate. I cut back a little on the sugar as a result. I had to reduce the mixture for several minutes, and I wish I'd followed my gut and done it before adding the chips instead of after, but everything turned out in the end. It's not quite the same texture as the Mrs. Richardson's we used to eat, but then again, no corn syrup or sweetened condensed milk. I think next time I'll use either soy milk or a recipe for sweetened condensed milk replacer.

Sweater!!!
I know this is supposed to just be about cooking, but I finally finished the sweater I've been knitting since October! And it's awesome. I'll get some pictures up soon.

OMFG I just had an orgasm in my mouth!

Because cooking is more fun than horse anatomy, and because baking cookies doesn't require chopping, and because giving yourself a stomachache by eating too many cookies before noon is a serious accomplishment, I just made Peanut Almond Butter Chocolate Pillows, which are like peanut butter cups, except the chocolate on the outside is in cookie form. And I used almond butter because what else am I going to use a Costco jar of almond butter for?

Mine don't look quite like the ones in the book (Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar), but that's probably just because the relative humidity inside my house is somewhere around 5%, and I didn't up the liquid content at all.

This gets a 10, but it also kind of invalidates all other high scores, because really it should get an 11.

Break's over

There was so much food left over from the potluck last Saturday, I didn't cook anything else until today. I finally couldn't take anymore bean and rice dip and got back to eating some slightly more fresh food.

"Enraged Penne" 8/10
from Mediterranean Vegan Diet
Substituted rice pasta spirals for the penne, but otherwise followed the recipe. This was really good, although I might add more pepperoncinis next time. I don't even like pepperoncinis, except in this.

Sweet Potato with Piloncillo Syrup and Chile de Arbol 8/10, but the syrup itself gets a 10
This recipe is from Pati's Mexican Table
I think yams would have been better, but the mix of sweet, spicy, and citrus is off the charts. And, I may never buy brown sugar again. Piloncillo, aka panela, has this amazing texture, like butter.


Cucumber Chayote Slaw 5/10
I didn't use fresh pineapple, but I don't think that's the problem. I doubt it's the chipotle paste being frozen for 4 months. I think it's that instead of vinegar or lemon juice, the dressing has pineapple juice in it. Without any acid and very little spice, the slaw doesn't taste bad, it's just boring. I'm going to add some lemon juice and chile flakes.

Feijoada with yucca cakes and braised collard greens

This is from The Artful Vegan, a cookbook from the Millenium.

Feijoada is a black bean stew that originated in Portugal, but is common in former Portuguese colonies, especially Brazil. This stew was the weakest part of the dish. It was tasty, but too spicy for what should be a mild dish. I used 3 red peppers and 2 poblanos; one poblano would have been better. The yucca cakes were very popular, as you would imagine a deep fried starch patty would be. It's kind of a glorified tater tot, but in a good way. The braised collard greens were also excellent, and really easy to make.

I give it 7/10

Wow, looks like somehow I didn't actually finish the section from the Asian cookbook.

The Assorted Vegetables in Cashew Gravy (7/10) is basically an Indian curry dish. I probably ought to get a good mortar and pestle so I can grind spices; the coriander seeds are weird to chew on whole.

I couldn't find burdock root for the Burdock and Carrot Kimpira (9/10), so I used celery root. And it was superb. This is a recipe worth making more than once. For the dry red chiles I used chile de arbol from the Hispanic foods section.

Today I'm making Feijoada with yucca cakes, a recipe from the cookbook put out by the Millenium Restaurant in San Francisco, and possibly Sweet potatoes with orange-piloncillo syrup and chile de árbol from Pati's Mexican Table.

First post!

Hello world! Although I expect no one will ever read this, and to basically use this blog as a glorified record-keeping system, if you are reading, awesome. I'm a recently recommitted vegan, and a graduate of culinary school, and even though I've abandoned professional cooking to avoid an early, stress-induced death, I still love cooking. Unfortunately my repertoire has become repetitive, so I'm going back to cookbooks. The plan is to make vegan recipes, or vegan adaptation of recipes, from published sources, and then to review them. Also, there's a good chance my hobby interest will veer away from cooking and back towards knitting at any moment, so don't be too shocked if I get off topic discussing this quarter's Vogue Knitting.

I have a little catching up to do, so there will be quite a few recipes reviewed today.

From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Moskowitz and Romero

Crimson Velveteen cupcakes 8/10
I couldn't find the recipe at first, because I was looking for red velvet...I made the fake cream cheese frosting. These were very good.

Chocolate Stout cupcakes 7/10
The cake part of these cupcakes is good, but the crumb topping is better.

Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream 6/10
I'm going to have to make the buttercream again now that I have an electric mixer. But for now, nice, simple cupcakes. By the way, I used oil not margarine.

Pistachio Rosewater cupcakes10/10
And I quote, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" Thanks, Emily.

From Vegan With a Vengeance, by Moskowitz

Roasted Applesauce 10/10
What do you do with a bag full of not-so-crisp apples? Every single time, you make exactly this applesauce. Or else.

From The Mediterranean Vegan Diet by Donna Klein
Squash gnocchi with Walnut Sauce 7/10
I made this for Christmas eve dinner. The sauce is like pesto, except instead of basil and pine nuts, it's parsley and walnut. The gnocchi isn't too hard to make, but I would definitely suggest freezing the shaped dumplings before boiling them.

Rice Salad with Saffron and Green Olives 9/10
This salad is super easy to make and wicked delicious. I only wish I could buy castelvetrano olives on the east size of this state.

From The Asian Vegan Kitchen by Hema Parekh
Assorted Vegetables in Cashew Gravy
Burdock and Carrot Kimpira

From The Tropical Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein
Philippine-Style Eggplant in Coconut Cream over Rice 5/10
This recipe was just okay.

From Veganomicon by Moskowitz and Romero
Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Toppings 8/10
This is the comfort food version of butternut ravioli with sage brown butter sauce. Yummy.

Cholent 7/10
This is a vegan variation on a Jewish stew. It calls for TVP chunks, but I couldn't find any, so I used seitan. I also substituted butter beans for the lima beans, because lima beans still don't appeal to me after years of frozen vegetable mix. This is a really tasty stew, and it's the best use of kidney beans I've come across yet.

From Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar by Moskowitz and Romero

Citygirl Snickerdoodles 7/10
These cookies have a great flavor, according to my roommate the best she's ever tasted, but the lingering mouth feel isn't so hot, actually, it's just like the mouth feel that straight Earth Balance sticks have. Maybe if I make them again, I'll try to find different vegan margarine.

Second round I reduced the baking from 12 minutes at 350 to 10 at 325, and now these are hitting more like a 9.5. They are crisp and chewy and the mouthfeel is gone. Hurray!