Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Last Posts of 2013!!!

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~

Woot! I accomplished my goal this month of cooking out of the eight cookbooks I had for this last year of the cookbook club. I'm excited to see what 2014 has in store.

from Vegan on the Cheap: White Beans & Lemon Potatoes with Olives & Tomatoes ~ 


~ roasty toasty yumminess ~
Yukon Gold potatoes, cannellini beans, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, garlic, fresh parsley and lemon. A one dish meal! I will definitely add this to my 'make again' list. 


My favorite sun-dried tomatoes. 


I served the roasted potatoes & beans with the best Massaged Kale Salad and


from Isa Does It: Carrot Cake Pancakes ~

I finally got a recipe made from this cookbook. I think the tiny print she uses in the recipes (the descriptions and the ingredients lists) discourages me but I got a bright light and squinted real hard and got this made! hehe

~ a stack of carrot cake pancakes ~

If you are starving and in a hurry to eat; don't make this recipe. This requires some extra time and patience. After mixing the batter you're supposed to let it set for 10 minutes. Then to cook the pancakes requires spreading the batter evenly into a circle (it's kind of thick) and letting it cook for 4 minutes on each side. I added the optional chopped walnuts in my batter along with the finely shredded carrots. For all the time it took to make these I'm glad to say they are delicious! I ate a couple with some Earth Balance margarine and maple syrup and froze the rest of them for "quick" breakfasts. 

Here's to the end of 2013 ~ May 2014 bring new cooking adventures!



Monday, December 30, 2013

Hearty Winter Potato Soup

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~ 

from How It All Vegan

I seem to be on a soup kick lately. So easy to throw everything into one pot and end up with a warm homey meal. I loved the potato soup my mom made when I was growing up. Of course it used dairy milk and was rich and creamy and you couldn't have it without chopped bacon in it. So I thought I would give this one a try and see if it would compare.


I've never made potato soup with red bell peppers. For the vegetable stock I used Better Than Bouillon's No Chicken Base. 

Love these little Bac'Uns. They don't have that yucky red coloring that others do. 

I just used my handheld blender to blend this up right in the soup pot. I left a few chunks of potato for some texture. I topped the soup with some Daiya cheddar shreds, chopped green onions, fresh ground black pepper and some Bac'Uns. The soup is yummy and comforting but still doesn't come close to Mom's potato soup! 

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Minestrone with Kale

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~  

Color Me Vegan:   This soup recipe is in the "Rainbow" section of the cookbook; but I had to take a picture of this brilliant "green" parsley. I usually just use dried parsley in my recipes but for this I bought this lovely bunch of organic parsley. It keeps for a couple of weeks when I store it this way in the fridge. I trim off the ends of the bunch, stand it in a glass of water and cover it lightly with the plastic produce bag. I change the water once or twice and it stays nice and fresh.





Kale, cannellini beans, bay leaves and fresh parsley.

I used lacinato (dinosaur) kale for this. It's a little less bitter and blends more smoothly into the soup.    
I've made another version of minestrone from Betty Goes Vegan. Now I can say I prefer this one. It has less ingredients and even tastes better. The only seasoning in the recipe is garlic, parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper. I added a teaspoon of my Italian seasoning and it was perfect.



This made a big pot of soup so I froze the leftovers for a quick future meal. 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Margherita Pizza and Chik'n-Zucchini Pizza

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~ 

from Betty Goes Vegan:

I was hungry for pizza and instead of ordering a dairy cheese laden pizza I got myself up off the couch and whipped these two yummy pizzas together. I used a pre-baked thin pizza crust; there were two crusts in the package so I just made up another pizza to go along with the Margherita Pizza. 

Margherita Pizza



For the second pizza I had some Morning Star Farms Chik'n Strips that I sauteed with some zucchini and sliced onion seasoned with a little Italian seasoning. I layered premade pizza sauce, sprinkled some vegan parmesan, and then added the sauteed chik'n and veggies topped off with Daiya mozzarella.

Chik'n-Zucchini Pizza


I'll have some of each please!



Both of these pizzas were yummy. I loved the thin crust. I liked the Margherita Pizza better and my hubby preferred the Chik'n-Zucchini one. 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Curry and Brussels Sprouts

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~
Curry and brussels sprouts?! These two recipes shouldn't go together but surprisingly they worked well and tasted delicious.
Eat, Drink & Be Vegan:  Zucchini Chickpea Tomato Curry
Crazy Sexy Kitchen:        Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios & Cipollini Onions


Love the flavors of this curry. Lots of spices~garlic, ginger, curry powder, fenugreek (a new one for me), coriander and cumin seeds, turmeric and cloves. The aroma in the kitchen as these were sauteeing was intoxicating! Yukon Gold potatoes, zucchini, green beans and chickpeas added the bulk to this recipe. I served it over brown rice. I thought it would be too spicy but the hubby actually liked it. The cilantro and fresh squeezed lime really accented all the flavors. 


Two of my favorite condiments~cilantro and lime!!



This brussels sprouts recipe had several substitutions. First, I pre-cooked the sprouts in the microwave a little bit so they would be done after roasting; I don't like hard sprouts. I couldn't find raw pistachios so I used toasted pine nuts. I tossed them in after roasting was done. I had no idea what cipollini onions were so I used shallots. I just read about cipollini onions and wish I had tried to find some. It sounds like they would have been sweet and carmelized. I used marsala cooking wine instead of the sherry which gave everything a sweeter flavor. Even with all the subs, these roasted brussels sprouts were yummy. I want to try this again with all the original ingredients.


Saturday, December 14, 2013

Goodie Bags and Santa

I've been really busy in the kitchen; just not cooking food! Every year I like to make goodie bags for all of those people who take care of me and my dogs; my massage therapist, hair stylist, vet/groomer, etc. 
This morning I took my basset hound, JoJo, to have her "spa" day at the groomer's. She got to see Santa! The other three dogs are so jealous. Hehe! 




~ Spicy Salt-Free Seasoning ~

~ Italian Seasoning ~

~ Solstice Spice Incense ~

~ Healing Glow Mist ~

~ Friendship Tea ~

~ Winter's Night Bath Salts ~

~ Winter Healing Bath Salts ~



~ Happy Holidays! ~


Gingerbread Waffles

 For December the Vegcookbookclub is cooking out of all the cookbooks we tried in 2013. I have 8 of the 11 cookbooks so my "plan" is to try one new recipe out of each of them. Surely I can make 8 recipes this month! I'm also revisiting a few favorites. My favorite way to eat Swiss chard is from Crazy Sexy Kitchen's recipe "Sauteed Chard".

Vegan Brunch cookbook~The Gingerbread Waffles are yummy!


Fresh grated ginger, cinnamon, cloves and molasses; just like eating a gingersnap cookie.



These smell wonderful! They are even better with some Earth Balance margarine and maple syrup drizzled on top.



Cumin-Roasted Cauliflower & Kale


This sounded so tasty in Wild About Greens; cauliflower, red bell pepper, kale and cumin seeds; but it was rather bland. I sprinkled some Slavo Salt on top which helped. Eh, probably won't make this again unless I doctor it up alot. 




I served the roasted veggies with sauteed mushrooms, sliced Yukon Gold potatoes and Gardein Chik'n Scallopini.