» Archive for May, 2008

Mini Crustless Tofu Quiches

Saturday, May 31st, 2008 by cyn
quiche.jpg from Fat Free Vegan I think I didn't cook these quite long enough, because they wanted to rip when I was prying them out of the muffin pan (hence the sort of unattractive photo), but it meant they had a really quite eggy texture. They were also ZOMG delicious. My boyfriend and I managed to eat nine of these between the two of us, while sitting on the couch and watching the two hour season finale of Lost and having a generally awesome lazy Saturday. Boyfriend says they tasted quite egg-like, I say they tasted straight up delicious. I definitely want to have some sort of crazy brunch and invite people over and make like, four batches of these and blow everyone's mind with how awesome they are.

Fiddlehead Ferns and Angel Hair Pasta

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 by cyn
fiddlehead1.jpg from the Food Network I feel sort of oddly embarrassed that I used a recipe by Emeril, but I googled "fiddlehead fern recipe" and there it was, more or less vegan and containing all ingredients I had and everything. I had seen fiddleheads on various vegan blogs and been all "Oh, those look weird and tasty, but I probably won't be able to find them," so when I stumbled on some at my Trader Joe's I snatched them up. Overall, this was good. The fiddleheads were good, very green tasting, although I don't think I like them as much as I like, say, asparagus. The pasta was tasty in that pasta with olive oil & red pepper way. I think the fiddleheads kind of scared my boyfriend, but he claimed to like them. (Him: "What are these? They look like alien tendrils." Me: "They're fiddlehead ferns." Him: "They're trees?" Me: "Uh, ferns.")

Saffron-Rosemary Risotto, Italian Marinated Tofu, Spinach

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 by cyn
risotto.jpg Risotto from Vegan Yum Yum, tofu from Veganomicon The risotto was good, although as Lolo mentions, not super creamy, almost more of a pilaf than a risotto. However, if it means I don't have to stir for three hours, I am down with it. The spinach was baby spinach sauteed with sun-dried tomatoes, white wine and lemon juice. I think I used too much lemon juice, but it was still good mixed in with the rice. The tofu is the Italian Marinated Tofu from Vcon/VwaV, using my favorite San Diego Soy Dairy herbed tofu. Instead of marinating and then baking I just stuck it in the oven with the marinade. I cooked at a slightly higher temperature so I could put it in the oven with the rice, and broiled it a little bit at the end, and it turned out great, all chewy and crispy on the outside. It was delicious in sandwiches for lunch, too.

Wedding Tofu Kabobs

Saturday, May 24th, 2008 by cyn
wedding.jpg I usually don't post about food I don't cook myself, but I was up in the bay area for a wedding this weekend, and even though I wrote "Vegan, please!" for the meal choice on my RSVP, I was pretty sure I was going to end up eating nothing but cliff bars. (I brought like three cliff bars and some soy jerky with me in my purse, just in case.) But then it turned out they had a special vegan meal just for me, with my own salad (the regular salad was a caesar), and the tofu kabobs pictured above. I was so happy that the bride and groom made sure I could eat amongst the billion of other wedding things they had to do, and the catering people obliged and made sure I actually got fed. A lot of the time I end up feeling vaguely guilty for being vegan in social eating situations, like I am inconveniencing everyone with my special requirements, or else sort of awkwardly munching on a cliff bar and being all "No, I'm fine, don't worry about me," when there's nothing for me to eat, which totally feeds into the stereotype that being vegan means eating bad food, when really ninety percent of the time I eat ridiculously good food. Which makes it so nice when it turns out really being no big deal at all, like at this wedding. So yay for good friends and being able to eat like a normal person. Also, the tofu kabobs were mighty tasty.

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions and Spiced Pita Crisps

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 by cyn
redlentils.jpg from Veganomicon Oh man, I wish I could be all "This was much better than it looks, seriously," but actually, it was just a big pile of bland. And kids, nothing that involves this much olive oil should be anything less than delicious. I ended up eating it with lots of soy sauce and sirracha and furikake and it was good, but pretty much anything is yummy when subjected to that treatment. The pita chips, on the other hand, were delicious.

Palak Soyabina Panira

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 by cyn
saag.jpg from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan This was yummy, and the tofu worked perfectly in place of paneer cheese. It didn't taste the same, but it served the same purpose of providing little bits of exciting yumminess scattered throughout the curry. I think I liked the spices in the Veganomicon Saag Pumpkin a little better, so I may play around with respicing this dish, but in general you can't go wrong with any Palak Paneer variation. I do find it a little depressing just how much the spinach shrinks down, though.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Monday, May 19th, 2008 by cyn
chocups.jpg from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World I think I've finally figured out how to make a really good ganache: whisk the fuck out of it, and then let it cool down for ten-to-fifteen minutes. It turns out smooth, thick, and not all crazy drippy. (Although still a little crazy drippy.) These are my all time favorite cupcakes to make when I am too lazy to make buttercream frosting, and since I was making both ganache and chocolate cupcakes for the peanut butter bombs anyway, they seemed perfect. They were also very tasty with raspberries on top. They were not quite the rockstars that the peanut butter bombs were, but they were good enough that my boyfriend ate three in one day when I left the leftover ones at his house.

Sexy Low Fat Vanilla Cupcakes

Monday, May 19th, 2008 by cyn
berrycups.jpg from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World I just could not get the right texture going in the sugar syrup for the recipe. Maybe it was because it was ungodly hot, but no matter how thick I made it the syrup wanted to start dissolving and sinking into the cupcakes almost as soon as I dribbled it on. It pretty much completely disappeared between when I took this picture and when I served the cupcakes. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, actually, since I have to admit that sometimes when I look at that picture I think "Cupcake Cumshot." (That's also totally the name of my punk band that sings songs about baking.) I really love the fresh berries and cupcakes combo, though, I definitely have to start doing that more, I'll just leave the syrup business off in the future. I have to admit that the cupcakes were not actually as good as the fatty kind of cupcakes - they seemed denser and didn't have as light a crumb going on. (One of my friends who makes a lot of cupcakes from VCTOW noticed, too, she was like "Are these gluten free or something?" and I was like "No, low fat.") Still tasty, but not as nice in texture. Also, props to my roommate for hooking me up with some applesauce after I realized mine had gone all moldy.

Peanut Butter Bombs

Monday, May 19th, 2008 by cyn
pbcups.jpg from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World I made three dozen cupcakes for my boyfriend's birthday, just to prove how much I dig him. (It had nothing to do with how awesome cupcakes are, that part was all pure suffering.) These were probably the most awesome of the bunch. They're a variation on the chocolate cupcakes from VCTOW. I was like, "I took peanut butter, and made it super, duper bad for you." Yes, that frosting is peanut butter plus shortening, margarine and powdered sugar, which is pretty ridiculous. I think these would be super good if you could get sort of a hard chocolate shell going over the peanut butter, like that magic shell stuff.

Roasted Portobello Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing

Sunday, May 18th, 2008 by cyn
salad.jpg from Veganomicon It was about a billion degrees out, and I was like "I believe I shall make a salad. A salad that requires roasting things in the oven." I think I was wearing my stupidpants at the time. Fortunately, the salad was delicious enough to be worth sweating over a hot oven. The dressing was a little bit too sweet for me - I think next time I make it I'll leave out the maple syrup and some of the oil. As it was, it reminded me a little bit too much of my vague memories of McDonald's honey mustard sauce. But salad with chickpeas and avocado and portobellos = awesome.