So I kind of did the whole vegan mofo iron chef thing, except that I'm totally posting this about a day and a half past the deadline. Yeah, I'm not so much with the, you know, "on time" kind of thing. Also I totally cheated, because I was planning on making a batch of roasted applesauce from Vegan with a Vengeance, and I was like "I'll make an experimental half batch and throw some ginger in."
And so I did, and it was delicious. The boyfriend totally freaked out about how delicious it was, too. I used four pounds of apples to make all of this applesauce, and we've eaten about three quarters of it in the two days since I made it. I think I may need to make some more soon. But the good news is I've figured out what to do with my CSA apples. (And I may throw some of the pears in there, too.) I'm not normally an applesauce person, but the roasted applesauce is almost like an apple pie filling, it's so delicious. Right after I took this photo, I ate that applesauce with some chocolate ice cream, and it was awesome. I've also used the applesauce in waffles and eaten it plain for lunch. Yummtastic. And other than peeling a bazillion apples, it's way easy to make.
Local: Apples
from Vegan with a Vengeance
So what I really wanted originally was a decadent Saturday morning breakfast featuring pancakes topped with some sort of strawberry. But my boyfriend claimed he didn't have time for pancakes, and I felt weird making pancakes just for me. But I still was craving carbs & strawberries, so once more I consulted my books. I thought about strawberry muffins, but I didn't have any soy yogurt. But I did have all of the ingredients for scones!
These scones were so delicious hot from the oven with the strawberries all warm, and I knew they would never be that delicious again and that is why I ate five of them for breakfast. And then the boyfriend came home from his errands just as the scones were at their optimal warmth, and he had brought home a brownie and two cupcakes for me from a local vegan bakery! (Best boyfriend ever, yes?) So then I made him eat some scones and split the brownie with him and it was pretty much the best breakfast ever.
The leftover scones were almost as good when we microwaved them for 15 seconds to make them all warm and delicious once more.
Local: Strawberries 
risotto from Vegan with a Vengeance
My favorite thing about the pressure cooker is that it makes cooking risotto super easy. I love risotto, but I never make it because I can't handle just standing and stirring for an hour. (I tried to make the boyfriend stir once, but he refused after about five minutes. Wuss.) But with the pressure cooker, I just put the rice and water in, bring it to pressure and cook for ten minutes, and it's risotto! So easy.
The first risotto I decided to make with my new pressure cooker was the relatively simple one from VwaV. I just tossed the dried shiitakes in without soaking them first, and they turned out edible but a little chewy - in the future I'll definitely soak them at least a little bit. Other than that, this was easy-peasy and full of creamy goodness.
To make this a balanced meal, I sauteed zucchini, chickpeas and tomatoes with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and lemon juice. It turned out amazingly tasty for something completely quick and simple. (The chickpeas were left over from a batch I cooked for the hummus.) Basically, this was just tossing a bunch of stuff from the fridge into a pan, but it turned out great.
Local: Zucchini, tomatoes 
pizza dough from Vegan with a Vengeance
I thought a pizza would be the perfect way to use up the last of my mozzarella Teese. And I was so right - it was perfect on pizza, so melty, and while I love pizza with tofu ricotta, this was classic pizza, the kind I remember from my pre-vegan days.
I made the pizza dough from VwaV the day before. I used a little more than half whole wheat flour in the dough, because I ran out of white flour. When I was ready for dinner the next day, I took the dough out of the fridge and spread it out in a baking sheet, and then lightly covered it with tomato sauce. (From a jar! Shocking.) Then I added the shredded Teese, seitan sausage I had in my freezer, a roasted red pepper (I set the smoke alarm off roasting it, but it was worth it), tomato, and mushrooms. There was barely enough room on the pizza for all of the toppings! I put it in the oven at 500 degrees for about 8 minutes, and when it came out it was all crispy and delicious. We had it with salad (of course), and between my boyfriend and I, we ate all but three slices!
Local: Salad fixins, red bell pepper, tomatoes, mushrooms 
Potatoes from Vegan with a Vengeance, Tofu from The Garden of Vegan
I love me some potatoes on the side of my tofu scramble whenever we go out for breakfast, but for some reason I never make them myself. Well, this weekend I changed that by whipping up some potatoes from VwaV, and they were super easy all cut-stuff-up-and-stick-it-in-the-oven style, and delicious on top of that. I even took the super lazy option and subbed dried herbs for fresh, and they were still good. The tofu is the fried-egg style tofu from Garden of Vegan, and it's really easy and also tasty and perfect for weekend brunch. This is definitely what I order when we go out for breakfast on the weekends - potatoes and eggy-style tofu.
And to make it a complete meal, I added a smoothie. I just threw three pears, a frozen banana and some soymilk into the blender, and it came out delicious and made me feel like I was all healthy and getting the right number of servings of fruit.
Local: Tofu, pears 
Baking Powder Biscuits and Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance
Oh dear, these biscuits. I had been yearning after biscuits and gravy for weeks, maybe even months, and when I finally made it I ended up with these flat little hockey pucks. They did not rise at all. I don't know if I overworked the dough, or my baking powder's gone off, or if I have some sort of Biscuit Curse, but after I suffered through a couple of these for Gravy's sake, I threw the rest of them into the trash.
The seitan, on the other hand, is 
from Vegan with a Vengeance
I was feeling sort of ambitious and also brunchy last Sunday, so I decided to whip up some waffles. And fresh squeezed orange juice, because I suddenly realized that would be a good way to use up our CSA oranges. The waffles were good - I didn't have either apple or pear juice, so I just used more soy milk instead, so they probably weren't as flavorful as they would have been with juice. I used the ginger applesauce in them, so they were extra gingery. We ate them with more applesauce and maple syrup, and it was a perfect Sunday brunch. I used my Hello Kitty waffle maker for this, so the waffles are shaped like Hello Kitty and her bear and rabbit. The leftovers were also great to grab for breakfast during the week.
Local: Apples, oranges 
barley salad from the Real Food Daily Cookbook, tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance
This barley salad was so delicious. The boyfriend thought it had "too much parsley" even though I left the olives out just for him (I added them to my bowl), which meant left me to eat the other five servings of this for the rest of the week. And I was still looking forward to eating it on the fifth serving! I also fed it to my friend Liz the next day, and she did not have a problem with the amount of parsley. I loved, loved, loved this, with the chewiness of the barley and the tang of the lemon juice and the tomatoes and the salty olives. So, so good. I am totally making this again, although maybe subbing basil or cilantro for the parsley next time.
The tofu is good old Asian Marinated Tofu from VwaV and Vcon. For some reason I don't make this nearly as much as the Italian Marinated one, but it is also delicious. This turned out extra spicy due to me going "Oh, there's not that much chili sauce left in the jar, I'll just throw it all in." But, you know, it worked.
Local: Tofu, tomatoes, parsley 
Pilaf from Veganomicon, Green Beans from Vegan with a Vengeance
Neither the boyfriend or I are fans of the quinoa, but I keep making it anyway because 1. I have a jar of it in the pantry that does not seem to be getting any emptier and 2. everyone keeps talking about how it's amazing and wonderful and has more calcium than milk and blah blah blah wonder grain. I'm not the biggest fan of the chickpea (in non-hummus form) either, but I'm getting better about it. So when I made chickpea-quinoa pilaf and the boy and I were both like "Hey, this is . . . pretty good, actually," it was surprising. Deliciously surprising. This recipe might eventually turn me into a quinoa lover.
The green beans were a recipe from VwaV I'd made once a long time ago, and remembered since the CSA sent us a huge bag of purple beans. (Which sadly turned green when cooked. What's the deal with that?) It calls for a huge, must-be-a-typo amount of salt, which I significantly cut down. The result was delicious. These guys have a would-be-perfect-at-Thanksgiving-dinner kind of vibe going, in the tastiest possible way. 
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy from The Real Food Daily Cookbook, Italian Marinated Tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance
Hey, you know what's awesome? Gravy! I would probably eat cardboard if it had a lot of delicious, delicious gravy on top of it. The carrots gave the mashed potatoes a really nice sweetness (which was delicious with gravy). I should have cooked the carrots a little longer, since they didn't completely mash in with the potatoes, but my friend Liz said she liked them this way, so I'm calling that a feature instead of a bug.
The Italian Marinated Tofu from Vcon and VwaV is a recipe that I make a lot, because it's always tasty, and it is also delicious with gravy.
I cooked the baby bok choy with leftover marinade from the blackened tempeh. It was pretty tasty, but the marinade turned out a little too thick. I didn't try gravy on this, but it would probably be good.