Trying to Get Back to Normal (Whatever That Is)

I did manage to try some new recipes this last week. This month has just flown by it seems. Now I'm fighting another stupid sinus infection which leaves me not wanting to do anything. Onward and upward! I made this tasty soup from The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook. It makes a big pot of soup using frozen veggies and canned beans. I thought it needed some green so I added a big handful of chopped spinach and some fresh basil. I took this over to my mom and dad's for their supper while my mom is recovering. I served it with some garlic bread. 

Fast Minestrone

My brother and sister-in-law had a Memorial weekend BBQ swim party on Saturday. I brought my veggie dog, cookies and coleslaw. I made my favorite coleslaw from Give Them Something Better. Even my 9 year old nephew loved the coleslaw! I also made these yummy cookies from Meet the Shannons; here is the recipe. I usually like a chewy cookie but these were more of a dry, baked texture like I think of store-bought cookies. Loaded with dried cherries, chocolate chips and walnuts, they're yummy with a cup of hot tea.

Cherry, Walnut & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made another soup/stew this week. This is from The China Study Cookbook. This one is packed with protein with chickpeas, lentils, bulgur and sweet potato. The cayenne and coriander give it a nice spicy kick.

Zesty Bulgur Stew

I bought too many fresh berries last week and they were going bad so I thought "hey, make a crisp!" I always look in La Dolce Vegan first because I've made just about every recipe out of there. I used the Raspberry Apple Crisp recipe and instead of just raspberries I used a mixture of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I doubled the recipe and made a big 9x13 pan. We were babysitting the grandsons and they ate a big bowl of it. Yummy! Delicious for breakfast, too.

Berry Apple Crisp

Irish Bean Stew

I love the recipes in The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook. Well, they're "quick and easy" and they are low-fat and use no added oils. 

The ingredients for this "stew" are onion, caraway seeds, frozen hash browns, frozen mixed veggies, cabbage, canned white beans and veg. broth. So easy to have everything on hand. You don't even have to defrost the frozen hash browns and veggies. The potatoes help thicken up the stew. I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base and added an extra two cups of broth because it was way too thick. 

Seasoned with some freshly ground pepper and it is yummy! 

White Beans with Swiss Chard and Rice

I decided not to participate in the Vegcookbookclub this month so I'm working on making some of the recipes I've had on my list for awhile. And, once again, I'm cleaning out my pantry, fridge and freezer. I've got lots of grains, beans and legumes I need to use up. This recipe is from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan's Daily Companion.

Sauteing chard and onions. 

The recipe calls for 5 cups of vegetable stock. I love to use this Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base. It is a lighter, more "chickeny" flavor than the darker vegetable stocks. This is more convenient than using a carton of vegetable broth. Sometimes I don't use it all and then it just goes to waste. With this bouillon you just mix up the amount you need and store the jar in the refrigerator. I have been able to find the Vegetable flavor at my Sprouts store but for the No Chicken flavor I have to order it online. 

Swiss chard, onion, garlic, beans and rice. So easy and so delicious! The hubby gave this one a thumbs-up. 

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

 Dijon Mustard Brussels Sprouts.

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!

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. 

Minestrone ~ pg. 64

VegCookbookClub August recipes from Betty Goes Vegan by Annie & Dan Shannon:

Can't believe I'm finishing up August's recipes for VegCookbookClub and starting September already. I'm going to try the Vegan MoFo this year. It's a little intimidating because I don't really know much about the blogging world and all the technicalities but I'll give it a go. I thought about a theme I might try since I'm not following the VegCookbookClub this month. I have pages of recipes I've printed out that I have yet to try; this would be a good time to get all those recipes made. I linked the banner to the website.

This soup from Betty Goes Vegan is a trial run for my future daughter-in-law's bridal shower next month. We are serving three kinds of soup and I volunteered to make a minestrone. This is super easy because everything goes into the slow cooker (I used my large 6 quart slow cooker.)

Fresh veggies for the soup~kale, zucchini, red onion, celery, carrots, basil and garlic

I chose to pre-cook my pasta so I would be sure it was cooked and also that it didn't get too mushy. I just added it into the soup at the end. The recipe calls for 1 Tbsp olive oil of which the directions didn't say when to add it in so I didn't use it; totally fat-free soup! This soup cooked in about 4 hours.

This passed the taste test; it just needed some salt and pepper. I'll be serving this at the bridal shower. I'm going to use mini shell pasta instead of the elbow macaroni though.