8 posts tagged “ed&bv”
I have been cooking more food lately, probably because of the warm weather we are still enjoying, for which we are really grateful. Now I am actually contemplating what to cook again for tomorrow.
Polenta Casserole, recipe on page 138 of Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. I used nutritional yeast instead of soy cheese and It is the cheesiest thing we have tasted in five years.
Szechuan-Style Tofu with Eggplant, page 56 of Vegan Express. This is a great recipe. The dish is so flavorful. You can easily whip it up in 20 minutes and serve it over a bed of warm brown rice. I am discovering more good recipes in Vegan Express every week.
Chickpea Cutlets, from Veganomicon. I do not have this cookbook any more. This recipe was saved from more than 6 months ago. I guess by now I am the last person on this planet to have tried this recipe. These cutlets are literally everywhere in the blogsphere. I certainly do not need to praise them more.
I have been cooking but it has become rather hard to keep up posting more often. We always seem to have many things piling up onto the to-do lists. "It's always something" has been such a cliche in our household now. I didn't have time to come up with any new recipe. Nor did I participate in any cooking contest like I planned. I cooked from cookbooks and my recipe collection. Alas! 'Tis life. We ought to be grateful for what we have though. My husband and I have begun our little "self-compliment" group, inspired by LaidOutInLavendar. It is not easy at all. Gosh, I never knew it could this hard to say a few nice things about ourselves without feeling weird or discouraged. But we are trying. It's much easier to compliment each other, but when it comes down to the self-compliment... I guess we just don't know ourselves well enough.
Anyway, here comes the food porn, as usual. The first thing is from VwaV, page 28, "Fronch" Toast. It was great, but next time I will definitely add some cinnamon and nutmet to make it more traditional.
The second thing is Bryanna's Hunan Tofu. I made this before, a long while ago that I can't even remember. This time I didn't even fry the tofu beforehand because I wanted more of a soft and juicy texture. It turned out even better than I remembered. Surely a keeper!
Finally, a recipe from one of my favorite vegan cookbooks, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan - Monkey Minestrone (page 97). I totally adored this soup, but my husband actually preferred my own minestrone. How sweet! I didn't use any corn, but added some potatoes and soy beans. I think the soup was made more earthy and meaty this way. I also added three tablespoons of tomato paste to make the soup thicker.
Moonstruck (1987) is definitely my all-time favorite movie. I guess by now I've seen the movie like 20 to 25 times. I've tried watching this movie every day for 10 days straight and I'm still not tired of it. Nowadays there is almost no chance of seeing such a cute, lovely and family-friendly movie that makes you drool over the Italian food and feel all so romantic like a high-school kid. Therefore, I made my Moonstruck Minestrone to commemorate all the happy feelings this movie has instilled in me.
D's Moonstruck Minestrone
(makes 6-7 servings)
1 large yellow onion, halved and then sliced thinly
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
3 large stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups cauliflower florets, cut into bite size
2 cups tomatoes, roughly chopped and juice reserved
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 medium cabbage, cut into bite-size pieces
7-8 cups water
4 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 bay leaves
3 tsp. Italian herb seasoning
1/2 cup canned red kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup canned chickpeas, drained
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Saute onion, garlic, celery, carrots and cauliflower over medium heat for about 9-10 minutes until they soften a little.
2. Add tomatoes and cover. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Uncover, add water and cabbage. Turn heat to high to reach a slow
boil and stir in the tomato paste and herbs. Mix well and reduce heat
to simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes.
4.
Add beans to the stock and heat through. Cook another 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm (and now you can watch one of your favorite movies while eating it).
Besides the minestrone which I really love, I'm also extremely fond of coconut pies. This time I made the V'con basic single pastry crust again and made the Lime Sucker Coconut Pie (Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, page 200). This pie has the perfect balance of sweetness of the coconut and fresh tanginess from the limes. It rendered me completely defenseless.
EDIT: I remembered to take a closeup shot today, before I ate my pie.
This year for Thanksgiving, we actually bought a loaf of Tofurky Roast with Stuffing and the Gravy. But we didn't wait until the actual day to try it out. The roast was alright, but I guess we are not huge fans for giant seitan roasts (a little too heavy for us). I made a Caper and Mashed potato Salad (recipe by Peter Minakis of Kalofagas) on the side, which turned out amazing. I recently found out about Peter Minakis's blog which features many great Greek recipes and beautiful food photos. If you're interested in Greek cuisine, you can check it out.
Personally, I don't think it's quite fair that stuffing is only a side dish. Just because stuffing is typically used to stuff a dead turkey's body afte its innards are taken out, it's only called stuffing? We call it Beyond Stuffing in our household. It's perfectly fit to be an entrée.
Wow, I can't believe this post turns out to be quite long. I guess nowadays I'm really a cooking maniac. Until tomorrow (or maybe later) then.