Archive for the ‘ Cookbook Recipes ’ Category

Top 10 Recipes – Take Two

Jun 14, 2008 in Cookbook Recipes

Hi All -- It's Jane writing tonight. Well, I finally got around to making the Thai Coconut Corn Soup from Vegan Express, by Nava Atlas. Lane and I love Thai food, and this looked like an old favorite of ours, Tom Ka Gai Soup. Vegan.com ranked this recipe number two in their list of top 10 vegan recipes of 2008, so I've been meaning to get around to it. Actually, I'm planning on trying all ten, but don't seem to be overly motivated these days.

Normally, I try to follow a recipe to the letter the first time I'm making it. Of course, I taste as I go along, so there is the odd occasion when I'll decide to modify a recipe on the first try, especially if the recipe is heavy on an ingredient I don't particularly care for. Tonight, however, I made an outright error. I mistook my container of white pepper for the container of curry powder I was looking for (don't ask me how, since my spices are clearly labeled and every one of them has it's own place). Luckily, I don't love curry powder in significant quantities, so I only put one teaspoon in the pot (the recipe calls for two). It didn't smell overwhelmingly of curry, that was promising. I taste-tested to see if I should add the second teaspoon... And where did that heat come from? Then I looked at the spice container in my hand and lo and behold... "White Pepper." Oy! So, I added the curry, but only one teaspoon... that was enough. And then I omitted the red curry paste as I thought the soup might be too hot if I included that ingredient. (We had red pepper flakes which I put out, like they do at the Thai restaurants we frequent.) Finally, the recipe calls for a red bell pepper, which I thought I had, but it was ready for the compost pile. I didn't tell Lane about my faux pas until after he'd eaten it and given it his seal of approval. I'm not sure the red bell pepper is even necessary, but it would certainly make for a more interesting picture.

So, I didn't quite make the recipe as written, but the soup I made was delicious and oh so easy. And it only took about 20 minutes to get together. I think it will be even better, next time, when I make it correctly. If you're interested in giving it a try, here's the link:

Recipe for Thai Coconut Corn Soup.

Cheers -- Jane

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Top 10 Vegan Recipes

Apr 17, 2008 in Cookbook Recipes, Recipe Recommendations

At the beginning of the month Vegan.com put together a list of of his favorite vegan cookbook recipes for the year. I must have been sleeping, somehow I missed it. But I also read the Vegan Planet blog, and Robin posted about it today.

Having reviewed the recipes with Jane earlier, we feel compelled to share this with our readers who might not visit these sites. Some of these recipes look very interesting. And since they rate as "top 10" they're probably very worthy of a test drive.

The recipes that make the cut are:

  1. Plantain Omelet - From Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi’s Vegan Fusion World Cuisine
  2. Thai Coconut Corn Soup - From Nava Atlas’ Vegan Express
  3. Indonesian Coconut Rice - From Robin Robertson’s Vegan Fire & Spice
  4. Baked Ziti - From Beverly Lynn Bennett’s Vegan Bites
  5. Moroccan Phyllo Rolls - From Dreena Burton’s Eat, Drink & Be Vegan
  6. Italian Stuffed Crepes - From Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Nonna's Italian Kitchen
  7. Chickpea Curry - From Hema Parekh’s The Asian Vegan Kitchen
  8. Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding - From Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romano’s Veganomicon
  9. Root Beer Float Cupcakes - From Hannah Kaminsky’s My Sweet Vegan
  10. Fresh Mango Cobler - From Ani Phyo’s Ani's Raw Food Kitchen

Make sure to visit Vegan.com for the actual recipes, if you don't already own these cookbooks. We'll let you know what we think after we've tried them, but Jane wants me to put a caveat here: We have amassed a ton of "must try" recipes. So it isn't likely that we'll get through this list in the immediate future. Be sure to let us know what you think!

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Vegan Brownies

Apr 09, 2008 in Cookbook Recipes, Recipe Recommendations, Staples
The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets
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Vegan BrowniesOver the past few months, I've been complaining about the results of Jane's vegan baking efforts. Don't get me wrong... she's been complaining too. Overall, we've come to the conclusion that vegan baked goods just aren't as good as traditional baked goods. And while we miss the olden days of Princess Cake (the most amazing cake -- genoise, marzipan, whipped cream, raspberry filling... mmm, princess cake) and other goodies, we're willing to make this "sacrifice." Well, as of today, that's changed. Jane made the vegan brownie recipe from "The Joy of Vegan Baking" ... and oh my god it's amazing.

These brownies are not too sweet. They don't have that "hmm that's different" taste that many vegan baked goods are subject too. These brownies taste exactly like BROWNIES. They're so good that Jane is making me take the remainder in to work tomorrow because she doesn't trust herself to be around them. And she's already planning to make a second batch to welcome our new neighbors this weekend. Who needs Starbuck's vegan brownies when you can make these at home.

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Carrot Soup and Homemade Bread

Apr 05, 2008 in Cookbook Recipes, Recipes Online

Jane and I were out tooling around today and had a large lunch, so we weren't very hungry for dinner tonight. Since it was a little damp and overcast, it was a perfect night for soup. The soup, Indian Spiced Carrot Soup, is from Epicurious.com with minimal veganizing. We replaced the yogurt with Tofutti Sour Cream, and used vegetable broth, of course. Thanks to Christiane for suggesting it the other day. It has a light exotic taste.

And what goes better with homemade soup than homemade bread? So Jane baked the Simply Crusty Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

We cannot recommend this recipe enough. It's simple... four ingredients! And best of all, you make the dough and whatever you don't use goes into the fridge so you can have bread any time you want (within two weeks of making the dough). This bread tasted just as good as the Julia Childs french bread Jane made for the February Daring Bakers Challenge, but it was oh so much easier. (And there was no blood involved!)

If you decide to try the soup, we would suggest cooking the carrots and onions until they're tender before adding the broth. Also, Jane uses an immersion blender (if you don't have one yet, buy one!) instead of trying to transfer the hot soup to a food processor.

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